The fact that the two stories driving most of the action on the canvas right both involve rape babies (and “dead” rape babies at that, because I think we all know that both of them are showing up alive sooner — and in poor Kate’s case — douchier than you can say “TREY IS TOTALLY JOE SCULLY III”) would be completely depressing if I wasn’t kind of riveted by both of them.
Thankfully for my sanity, the show’s also managing to squeeze in some lighter moments, or we’d all be slitting our wrists from the sadness of it all. Like, today we learned that in between bouts of torture and brainwashing, Todd had a lot of time to do sit ups when he was locked up in that secret CIA facility!
(YOU’RE WELCOME.)
Eight years of torture = abs of steel? He could totally market that.
Meanwhile, in the land of ETERNAL SADNESS for which Todd and his guilty, guilty abs are at least 85% responsible, the Davis girls managed to pull together and not be assholes to each other, which is a thing that I enjoy:
But they weren’t the only ones bringing it — even Carly honestly moved me with her compassion for a woman she has traditionally treated like 1) dirt, or 2) Jason’s personal baby incubator.
And Spinelli — who often drives me to homicidal rages! — was really quite lovely and understated with Sam today, in a way that actually makes me wish we’d see more of them working together as friends:
SAM: I really wish you could have see him; he was beautiful.
SPINELLI: I was awake half the night, seeking to express an appropriate sentiment, but… there’s nothing to say. There’s no way to make it right. I can only tell you that I love you and I’m so very sorry.
See? More of putting friendships first and acting with actual care and compassion for the feelings of others and less… ever interacting with Maxie again, please!
Case in point: his team up with Olivia to figure out what Heather’s up to has also been surprisingly bearable. Although somewhat doomed if Olivia can’t learn to keep a better poker face, because damn, girl. You’re just lucky that Heather is half a pound of fruitloops shy of a full box, because there is no way you could fool anyone who wasn’t:
(Also, her assumption that Heather wanted to become a papergirl gave me this mental image of Heather in her grave-digging rain slicker, madly peddling a bicycle and flinging papers like deadly weapons. Which brings me joy.)
Aaaaaand… over in the land of DEAR GOD, HOW CAN THIS KEEP GETTING MORE DISTURBING, Kate gave a dramatic confession of her teenage trauma, which was both hard to watch and impossible not to. In large part because of Kelly Sullivan’s commitment to going all out, from her graphic and horrifying reenactment of the attack to her eerily calm admission that she abandoned her baby, her memories, and probably her sanity in one fell swoop:
KATE: I left him. In one of the dresser drawers. And then I left. And I got on a train. And I just… I let it go. I was never going back to that place, to those memories. They weren’t mine. That baby was not mine. It was as if he never existed.
Seriously, I was all set to hate this story with every fiber of my being, and all the disparate element are completely ridiculous. But somehow it’s all come together in a way that works?
(Also, I like that even though it wasn’t getting shot at their wedding which set this off, Kate’s condition is still all Sonny’s fault.)
Finally, the thought of Luke and Anna together in the Biblical sense repulses me in a visceral way. Bad Luke! No cookie! I really wanted you to treat Tracy right this time!
But it did give us the twin amusements of Luke willingly spending time with his daughter and McBain engaging in some girl-talk with Anna. So, that’s something!
(John and Anna continue to have the most believable old friend chemistry in the world, and if I didn’t know better I would swear the actors had been working together for years. Also, his superior hugging skills are apparently only rivaled by his listening ones, because the dude gives supportive advice like a mofo.)
COME BACK, JOHN MCBAIN. YOU’VE ONLY BEEN GONE A DAY AND ALREADY I MISS YOU SO MUCH!
Despair in the Afternoon 
Kate’s rape story was so sad yet does explain a lot like where the roots of her DID may come from (being shot at Sonny’s wedding may be the final trigger) and Kelly Sullivan was so on key in all of this “What does taht make me?” Answer: A scared, confused teenager who had no idea what to do. Aww, Spinelli is so sweet when he’s not annoying. Please, give Sam back her baby, soon. Though Tea will be heartbroken when she finds out. Once again, thank you writers, for having the females the sympathetic figures in these stories. I know I’ve said it before but GH has been so misogynistic before. Kelly Sullivan has really grown on me. And I liked how intently Ewen listened, and how compassionate he was, just encouraging her to talk and listening to her words. I’m warming to him slowly but surely.
I liked, too, that TeenKate didn’t magically look at her baby and love it instantly, because as nice a sentiment as that is, it isn’t always the case.
Especially when the child is a result of rape, so it must be harder to look at knowing it’s the result of being hurt and violated, even if the baby is innocent, keeping that in mind isn’t always easy under those circumstances. I must give Kelly Sullivan props, I wasn’t too fond of her, but she’s really come into her own in such a tricky story line.