On Thanksgiving day, General Hospital aired a brand new episode … and it was chocked-full of cliffhangers that will have fans waiting on the edge of their seats till next Monday, when the next new installment of the ABC daytime drama series airs.

In story, Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) who is now uber-suspicious of Kendra (Michelle Argyris), receives a visit from her as she is preparing to leave GH and go home after being poisoned. Kendra offers to bring Alexis more supplements, but Alexis tell her she will contact the distributor herself.  Kendra says the distributor only speaks Italian, and Alexis counters that she also speaks Italian.  At that point, Kendra’s plan may have gone up in smoke.  Later, Alexis has checked out of the hospital  on her own.  Neil (Joe Flanigan) is concerned for her, and bumps into Julian (Willam deVry) and it is Julian who says he saw Kendra with the supplement jar retrieving it from the garbage.  The two men look concerned.

Next, we see Kendra visiting her brother, Kiefer’s grave where she places flowers on it, and tells him she promises to make Alexis pay for killing him.  However, Alexis has followed her to the gravesite.  Once Kendra walks away, Alexis goes to the grave, lifts up the flowers and is shocked when she sees Kiefer’s name on the headstone.  Then from behind, Kendra smashes Alexis in the head with a rock.

Courtesy/ABC

Julian is ready to snuff Brad (Parry Shen) out of his and his son, Lucas’ (Ryan Carnes) life once and for all, and he cuts a wire in Brad’s car.  Problem is, everyone assumed Lucas would be working on Thanksgiving at the hospital.  So first, Brad lets Michael (Chad Duelle) take Wiley to the Corinthos family Thanksgiving,  and tells Michael he does not want to attend, because of Carly (Laura Wright) and the family’s issue with him visiting Nelle (Chloe Lanier) in prison.  Next, Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) tells Lucas to go home – that she got his shift covered by Terry.  Lucas goes home to confront Brad.  He tells his husband, to please tell him what he is keeping from him.

Courtesy/ABC

At the Corinthos home, Mike (Max Gail) comes to Thanksgiving dinner from Turning Woods.  When he comes inside he is confused, wondering when his own parents are coming.  Carly tells him that his parents left him with them to take care of him for Thanksgiving.  Later, Mike is holding baby Donna, which scares Michael, Carly and Sonny (Maurice Benard).  When Carly is able to get the baby in to her hands, Mike loses his temper and gets upset and pushes Sonny right into the Thanksgiving food, which falls to the floor.  Sonny can’t seem to calm Mike down and tells Carly he needs to take his father back to Turning Woods where they can take care of him. Sonny is devastated.

Courtesy/ABC

At Anna’s (Finola Hughes), Finn (Michael Easton) comes upon the letter Hayden wrote for him, when Violet asks for her doll, which is inside her bag.  Alone, Finn opens the letter and is heartbroken, and shook, when he reads that Hayden is in serious trouble and had to leave town to protect Violet. She tells Finn she knows he will take good care of their daughter.  Finn is reduced to tears, trying to cope with what is in front of him.

So, what did you think of these four cliffhangers? What do you think will happen with Brad, Lucas and the car that Julian tampered with?  Will this be the end of Mike as his condition continues to spiral downward? Will Neil or Julian save Alexis from Kendra? What will Finn’s next move be?  Will he tell Violet that her mother is gone? Share your thoughts and theories via the comment section below.

Now that DAYS will preempted over the Thanksgiving holiday break, leave it to head writer Ron Carlivati and his team to come up with a creative way to usher in the highly-anticipated return of fan favorite, Stephen Nichols and with a doozy of a cliffhanger.

Nichols, who has played Steve “Patch” Johnson on and off for decades, was revealed in story at the end of Wednesday’s episode as Princess Gina (Kristian Alfonso) completes her painting of “Steffy”. Next thing you know, we see Steve, or is it Stefano with a face change, who is wearing a suit and shooting a look over to Gina? The episode fades to black.

Courtesy/NBC

Then, on the heels of the reveal, NBC released next week’s official DAYS promo which has a voice-over of the character of John Black (Drake Hogestyn) saying “The phoenix always rises from the ashes” Next you hear Stefano (aka Nichols) saying “I now have Steve Johnson’s face.”  While Gina wants to know what Stefano’s plan is, he exclaims, “It’s good to be back.”

Watch the exciting promo below, and then let us know what you think of the story twist,  and if you are happy to see Stephen Nichols back on-screen via the comment section below.

Monday’s episode of The Young and the Restless featured the highly-touted and highly-anticipated 30th anniversary show for Peter Bergman.  For three decades, and with three Daytime Emmys for his work, Bergman has made Jack Abbott one of soap operas all-time classic characters.

And, if anybody needed a reminder, or a refresher course of just how good Peter Bergman has been in this role, you needed to look no further than the tremendous flashbacks the producers of the series pulled to punctuated Jack Abbott’s life story since Bergman’s arrival on the scene, replacing Terry Lester in the pivotal role.

Photo: CBS

What was great about this standalone episode, celebrating a milestone for one of their legacy cast members, was that it did not show the same ole’ same ole’ clips that often can be standard fare in soapland.  Instead, viewers were treated to some of the more heartbreaking moments for Jack, i.e. when he tells Nikki that their son who had died saved another child’s life, and that he got to hold the baby.  Then there was the gut-punch when Jack realizes Phyllis has been sleeping with none other than Nick Newman, and he feels the fool and that she played him.  There is the moment when Jack tells his dying father John, that he will look after the family now, and there is even boardroom corporate drama that back in the day was so exciting to see.  How great were Jess Walton and Bergman together back then as Jill and Jack? And then there is the rivalry of soap rivalries between Victor Newman and Jack Abbott played to the hilt by Eric Braeden and Bergman, respectively.

Watching Bergman’s work in flashbacks would be enough on its own. Now add to that the real-time mature version of Jack, who has realized his many failings and how he would do anything to be CEO of Jabot, including duping his sister, Ashley with the Blood-Abbott clause and more, and you’ve got soap gold.  You definitely needed some hankies for this episode, especially watching the reactions of Bergman acting mostly by himself when going in and out of the flashbacks.  We have often said, no male actor can cry quite like Peter Bergman, and move you to tears.  And in this episode, he did that several times over.

How fitting that Jack was sitting around with his siblings: Traci, Billy, and Ashley as well as his mother, Dina, his son, Kyle and his niece Abby, that brought the episode to its conclusion looking back at the life and times of the Abbott family through Traci’s manuscript that Jack helped write.

In the end, Jack celebrates what being an Abbott means, and remembers those who have passed, and looks forward to new members of the clan to come.

What were your thoughts on Peter Bergman’s Y&R 30th anniversary episode, his performance and those retro-clips? Let us know in the comment section below.   And for more on Bergman’s 30th anniversary make sure to read his interview with Michael Fairman TV here.