5 Problems with the Jake Dies & Joss Lives Story on General Hospital

Jake, we hardly knew ye...

Well I just got done watching a week's worth of General Hospital episodes. My head hurts, my eyes are burning and I suddenly have the urge to get as plastered as Luke was when he 'allegedly' ran over Jake Webber/Spencer. I was struggling with whether or not I should write anything about the Jake/Joss story. There's already so much negativity surrounding this story, do I really want to kick a dog when it's down? The answer is, Yes...Yes, I do.

I should warn you guys: I'm not going to argue that they shouldn't have killed him. The truth is that if the story had been done well, I could accept it. I know all the arguments against Jake being the one who died, and while I understand them, I don't necessarily agree with them. I might address that at a later date, but for now, here are 5 Reasons why this story isn't working for me.

1. Lightening Speed Storytelling: In the blink of an eye: Joss got sick, Jake got hit by a car & was pronounced brain dead, Carly begged for Jake's organs, the transplant procedure was done, the Who Done It began and was "solved," Joss recovered & everyone in town confronted Luke. That's 6 months of storytelling told in a few weeks. I know Guza wants to make this Must See TV. Telling the story so quickly means fans will have to tune in every day, otherwise they might miss something important. I get it, but it sucks. One reason we love soaps is that they, unlike any other type of TV shows, can take their time with a story. They can play every beat of every story and almost tell it in real time. Emotionally, it's unsatisfying when everything is rushed. And let's face it, the faster stories like these are told, the sloppier the storytelling tends to be.

2. MIA Characters & Conversations: A big problem with Lightening Speed Storytelling is that we're not getting the characters & conversations that we should be getting. I'm echoing thousands of GH fans when I ask "Where the H*LL is Bobbie Spencer?" She's Joss's grandmother, Luke's sister, and Lucky's aunt (not to mention BJ's mom) - she should be All Over this story. Where are the Qs, Laura, Audrey? Oh and where is Jax?? You know, Joss's father. Why has Ingo Rademacher been relegated to making cameo appearances in a story that's about his daughter?? There are plenty of conversations I would have loved to have seen: between Jason/Monica, Jax/Elizabeth (remember: she miscarried his child years ago - and now she's responsible for giving him back Josslyn), Lucky/Sam, Bobbie & Everyone, etc...

3. We Weren't That Invested In Jake & As It Turns Out, Most of the Characters Weren't Either: Okay, Liason fans were invested in him, but it occurred to me that unless he was in a story where he was in danger, we really didn't see him very much. It's weird to hear characters talk about Jake: Lucky: "Remember that time when Jake did this...and did that?"  Well no, actually I don't. Lucky: "Jake was so adventurous, he was Fearless!" He was? Really? Nice to know.  Lulu: "He was So Special!" Wait...did Lulu know Jake? Did Luke know Jake? Maxie: "I remember seeing him at Emma's party. He was amazing!" Huh?? It's like suddenly all these people just loved him so much, yet over the years I don't think we actually saw them with Jake. And then there was the memorial service that many of the characters couldn't be bothered to attend. In all honestly, were you all that invested in Jake? What do you think of the pic I used for this blog? Be honest, you thought it was Jake right? HA! It's actually Justin Henry (of Kramer vs. Kramer fame)! You didn't notice right? See...that's how much you weren't invested in Jake! Okay, I'm kidding. I'm sure you all knew it wasn't Jake, but I think you get what I mean. We hardly knew him and neither did most of the characters.

4. Weirdness: There are some things that are just plain weird. Like Lucky saying he always imagined Jake becoming Captain of a Spaceship (wha?) Or how about when Lucky and Luke were screaming at each other, their heads about to explode, Luke wails in agony, cut to commercial break, and when we come back they're suddenly completely calm (wtf??) And again, there's the Phantom Memorial Service that half the town didn't go to. Jason, Luke, Brenda and Sonny didn't even want to go. Shoot, Brenda seemed to think it was funny that they weren't going (seriously, was it me or did Brenda and Sonny seem incredibly callous about the whole thing?) Were the Qs even invited?? I get that Guza wants to save $$ and time (there's that Lightening Speed Storytelling again) but not showing the service and especially not having so many people in town attend it was just plain weird - and it took me completely out of the story.

5. Unfortunate Comparisons: This might be the worst thing of all - I just can't help comparing this story to other stories: GH's BJ/Maxie, DAYS' Zack's Death (Bo and Hope's little boy, hit by a car driven by his half-sister), Y&R's Cassie's Death, ATWT's Reid/Chris, RH's Baby Edmund's Death. While those stories had their flaws, they were all told better than this story, imo.

So far, I'm giving the Jake/Joss story a C. Terrific performances. Sloppy Storytelling.

What do you guys think??
-Melanie/SoapOperaBabble/daisyclover