On GH, Sam's Sordid Past Comes Out
And Jason Leaves Town
Last week on GH, PC was rocked by a
mob shoot-out that nearly claimed the lives of Sonny and Jason. The hit
was orchestrated by Alcazar, more specifically, his hired assassins.
This week, the gun-toting goons take a different tack and target the
mobsters' loved ones. At the top of the list is Jason's love, Sam, who
unbeknownst to her man, is dealing with her own personal drama-keeping
her secret, a sordid past a secret.
Steve Burton says that Jason
knows that Alcazar is faking the whole brain injury. When they ran into
each other at MC and Alcazar instinctively reached for his gun, that's
when he figured it out. After they got ambushed at the Cellar by
Alcazar's guys, there's no doubt.
However, as Jason and Sonny try to formulate a plan of attack, their
efforts are hampered by members of the press. Not only did the shooting
makes headlines, but Sam's new job as the host of "Everyday Heroes" sent
her TVQ through the roof, and the constant media attention is proving
detrimental to everyone in her life. Shady producer persuades Sam to use
the publicity generated from the shooting to help the show. Sam
initially refuses to blend her personal and professional lives, but
eventually relents. Bob Guza says that "at this point, Sam doesn't see a
problem. She believes that she can handle both. At this point, she does
not see that her career in any way will resurrect her past. Note the use
of 'at this point.' "
Jason remains supportive of Sam despite Sonny's frustration about the
press. And, leave it to Spinelli to be the one to call Stone Cold out on
letting the press troubles go he secretly feels guilty about the baby.
Steve says that "He's absolutely right," acknowledging the
Jackal's bold assertion. All of this press is every around him and
Sonny. Things have been coming out on the front page-and she was Sonny's
mistress and he bought her a career. Sonny's putting pressure on Jason
for her to quit the show. But Jason knows how happy it makes her. It's a
real tangled web here. She's happy doing it and he's trying to make her
happy, but also trying to avoid the press."
Meanwhile, Sam has her own personal problems to deal with as she
continues to have nightmares about her life as Angela Monroe. At long
last, viewers are clued into Sam's secret past. During her con-artist
days, Sam created various aliases, then married men and took all of
their money.
Guza says that " this is just the beginning of the secret. The secret
unfolds in degrees. We're really peeling the onion here. You already
know Sam was a con artist. What you don't is just how bad some of her
cons were. These cons are now coming back to haunt her big time. And
Amelia knows everything and her plan is in motion."
Amelia's plan involves some type of guilt on Sam's part, and as she
wrestles with her conscience, Jason visits Sam at the TV studio. There,
Amelia turns the screws by siccing reporters of the press on the shy
enforcer, prompting Jason to slip out-unaware, that a light
fixture is strategically placed to fall on Sam.
Guza says that "this incident could have been set up by Amelia and her
people or it could be tied to Jason's mob activity. Amelia wants to hurt
Sam, we know this, but this incident could be coming from a different
source."
Sam emerges shaken but unscathed. Unaware of the near fatal event, Jason
runs into Liz and the pair reflects on their difficult decision to keep
the secret of her baby's paternity. Liz admits that she loves both him
and Lucky, and that it's getting more difficult to deprive him of a
family. Rebecca Herbst says that "Liz and Jason have this undeniable
chemistry. They're not maliciously trying to sabotage the other's
relationship. They just have this bond, this friendship, this chemistry
that at certain times, they can't deny. But they're pretty good at
controlling it [laughs]. It's just a painful situation all the way
around."
Jason decides to keep his distance to make things easier on Liz and
heads back to the TV studio, unaware that things are about to go from
bad to worse. Alcazar's men target Sam and show up with guns drawn. Just
as arrives, shots go off.
Burton says that "two men are holding people captive and he walks right
into it. They take Jason's gun away. Then, there's a nice fight and Sam
ends up shooting one guy and Jason ends up shooting the other guy."
A disturbed Amelia goes into P.R. overdrive and convinces the mayor to
keep it under wraps that her star, Sam, killed one of the mobsters.
Then, she suggests that Jason keep his distance from Sam. Next, Amelia
hightails it back to Sam and says that Sam's career would benefit from
ending her romance with Jason. Sam, however, refuses to entertain the
thought.
Guza says that "essentially what Amelia is trying to do is play games
with Sam's head. We know Amelia has an agenda, which has way more to do
than just doing a TV show. Amelia is making Sam a star to bring her
down. She is messing with her romance by saying she shouldn't be
involved with Jason and is siccing the press on Jason and Sonny, which
she knows they will hate. This is all apart of Amelia's extensive
machinations."
And by weeks end, Amelia's efforts may have succeeded, as Jason hops on
his motorcycle and heads out of town. SB chuckles saying "too much
drama. He's got these major problems with the two women in his life. He
definitely needs to clear his head. But this isn't the end. This whole
situation is coming to a head and people are going to get hurt."
Reality Bites
GH's set decorators didn't have to go
far when it came to establishing Sam's TV show set. It's
actually the GH soundstage: "It was surreal shooting those scenes when
Jason goes to visit her on the set because we were using a lot of our
real stage," chuckles Burton. "We were shooting off of our
existing sets, so what you see is a real behind the scenes look at our
show. The door that I entered in from is just up the stairs from my
dressing room. It was really odd to do that. I don't like when real
life meets reel life. I know it sounds funny, but I really don't like
to be on camera. Obviously, I picked the wrong profession [laughs],
but my dad will come over to the house and videotape family gatherings
and I'm like, 'Get that thing off me, man. I don't want that camera on
me. Please!' I'm always asking him, 'Is it on record? Is it on record?
'No, it's on pause.' 'Okay, shut it down then. I don't want to see
it.' "