SoapNet is doing this new thing wherein they show the previous week’s episodes on Sunday evenings followed by a two hour mini-marathon of classic clips. This is both good and bad: Good, because Brenda is awesome and these episodes are fantastic but also Bad, because well, the five episodes preceding them are horrible.
In the first episode, Sonny is married to Lily who is newly pregnant with their child. Distraught, Brenda sleeps with Jax and is woken up the next morning with a marriage proposal. Brenda is taken aback. I would be too, since the best I ever get it is, “you can take a shower before I take you home”. Let me just comment about how young everyone looks! Mid-Nineties Sonny looks like he could be Current Sonny’s son (if that makes sense). Jax looks Hot Guy Hot as opposed to Distinguished Billionaire Hot. (I think Carly has ruined him. See also Sonny.) Brenda is beautiful and timeless. Robin looks twelve and I find her way more tolerable as a teenager instead of a professional in her late-Twenties running around Port Charles crossing off potential sperm donors. By the way, Robin and Sonny interacted. This is back when they remembered they were friends. Sonny was also friendly with Luke and most of Port Charles. Now he just hangs out with Jason and women that he sleeps with.
I would also like to point out that the old opening credits sequence proved that GH is like a hiding ground for past and present Days of Our Lives actors: Wally Kurth, Mary Beth Evans, and Matthew Ashford. By the way, I loved MBE’s hair in her scenes: it’s so big and blonde!
Back to the episode. So Sonny and Lily announce her pregnancy and Brenda agrees to marry Jax on a yacht. I love what Brenda chooses to wear to her weddings. I’m not really sure if she’s wearing a dress or a nightgown, but it’s fantastic. Of course, I want to get married in a mini-dress so what do I know?
Of course this episode is famous for the closing montage which you may have seen back in the day when it was originally called The Godfather. I kid! It’s not a ripoff, it’s more of an homage and it is fantastic. Lily slowly walks to the car as Sonny, Mike, and Luke watch in the distance. Meanwhile, Brenda and Jax exchange vows. Luke and Sonny hug it out. Brenda and Jax toast to their marriage. Then as Lily puts the key in the ignition, the car blows up and you hear Sonny’s blood-curdling scream. Phenomenal. This show is big on montages that contrast happiness with ulitmate tragedy but this has to be one of–if not the–very best.
We jump to 2002 in our next episode. Brenda has returned from the dead and is roaming around Port Charles in stiletto boots trying to warn Sonny about Alcazar (Luis not Lorenzo). Sonny from five years ago looks like Sonny in the Present. Jason is about fifty pounds lighter and his hair is gelled within an inch of his life. This is back when Sonny and Jason played Dueling Penthouses except that Jason’s is barely furnished save for a pool table and Liz. Oh, yes, The Lovahs. Although not really. It’s just interesting to see both of them in the Penthouse of Solitude without conceiving a child. Oh Penthouse of Solitude, the things you will see in the next five years: a) a very pink room, b) the box of Secret Pain, c) the collection of leather jackets, and d) Spinelli as permanent houseguest.
Brenda gets some poor guy to call Sonny and act as an intermediary to arrange a rendezvous at St. Timothy’s the site of their ill-fated almost nuptials. Sonny is on his third marriage to Carly and she’s a nervous wreck because she thinks he’s walking into an ambush so she takes her anguish out on preparing a meal. Later in the episode, Carly enlists Liz to help her cook peppers. Why didn’t they take this act to the Food Network? I would love to watch a Dueling Mob Molls Cooking Show. They could have occasional guest appearances by Sam and Lulu as they prepare various dishes that require the use of very sharp knives.
Sonny and Jason arrive at the church, Sonny gets out, and walks in the rain. Another montage! This time Sonny is intercut with Carly lighting candles and spilling wine on the floor. Party foul! Back at the church, Brenda opens the church doors and comes face to face with Sonny. Their eyes meet. Suddenly a shot rings out as A. Martinez opens fire. A. Martinez, classic!
Now I know that GH gets a lot of flack for not showcasing the hospital. I would like to point out, however, that neither of these episodes featured any scenes in the hospital and they were nine times better than any of the current hospital storylines on the show. Seriously, why did this Night Shift business just pop up all of a sudden? I can barely tolerate Robin and Patrick but now I have to deal with all of their co-workers? I’d rather watch The Lovahs! Speaking of which, next Sunday’s mini-marathon is “Jason in Love”. Frightening.
Clink-Boom is indeed a classic. And I always remember being (perhaps very naively) surprised when it happened, being at the time completely unspoiled.
As for Carly asking Liz for help with anything at all, hell must have frozen over that day.
When I was watching it the other night, I imagined what it must have been like to see this episode unspoiled. Soaps are so ridiculous with spoilers now they would have been teasing it for weeks “Stay tuned for the final five seconds when someone whose name rhymes with Billie dies!”
It was quite remarkable. Partly because it was such a surprise – I figured we were going to have more painful months of Sonny/Brenda being apart (which we did, but in a completely different way) – and mainly because it was just so well done.
[...] that Lulu has (though not rightfully) inherited the Most Beautiful Girl in Port Charles crown from Brendabut she’s just so damn stupid. She’s reckless and self-centered and everyone loves her [...]