It’s Only My Opinion For The Soap Week Ending May 30

Nothing is better than when a long-held secret shakes up an entire soap opera canvas.

Like Gio’s true parentage, which just exploded on GH. We watched the sloooow drip of people (Lulu, Chase, Cody, Tracy) find out Brook Lynn gave birth to Dante’s baby in high school, and then the gusher of Lulu confronting Lois about it at the Nurses Ball.

Lois: “My mother and I couldn’t let Gio go, so we decided to keep him close and keep the secret. I made the best decision I could at the time.”

Lulu: “Maybe for you, but not for Gio.”

Lois: “Who are you to decide that?”

Exactly! Gio overheard that confrontation, announced to the ballroom who his true parents were, smashed his violin, and ran out. Following him were all four of his grandparents — Sonny, Olivia, Ned, and Lois — with only Lois knowing the truth. She confirmed it to Brook Lynn, who absolutely excoriated her.

Brook Lynn: “You lied to everybody! Me, your own daughter, for 22 years. Gio, my son, for his entire life. Dante, Olivia, Dad, Tracy… the list goes on.”

Lois: “I wish I could go back in time.”

Brook Lynn: “I want you to stay away from my son and stay the hell away from me.”

Lois’s sobs were halted by Ned taking his turn to bury his ex-wife, followed by Lois’s (former?) best friend, Olivia.

Olivia: “You set it up so you could keep your grandson close and not have to share him with anyone, not even his mother. Shame on you!”

Lois: “How dare you look down on me when you didn’t tell Sonny that Dante was his son?”

Ooof! The truth hurts.

Back at the Quartermaine house, Tracy stopped Gio from leaving with a heartfelt speech about the amazing family he now belongs to, but he wanted no part of it.

Gio: “I had a family. I had a mother I loved more than anything. And now I find out that none of it was real. You’re all a bunch of liars. So, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t jump on the Q bandwagon.”

There are so many payoffs to a reveal like this. First, it touches every Quartermaine (where Gio was living), every Corinthos (his new dad, siblings, and grandfather, Sonny), and all of Gio’s friends (Emma, Josslyn, Trina). Second, it adds layers to Lulu, who graduates from poor coma girl to big-mouthed villainess in a lot of eyes.

Cody: “Maybe confronting Lois at the Nurses Ball wasn’t the best idea.”

Lulu: “Things look bleak, but everyone will help Gio come to terms with his new reality.”

Cody: “You may want to lay low for a while.”

Lulu bears equal responsibility with Lois for the pain rippling through so many of Port Charles’ core families because of the way the truth came out. That’s on her.

A third payoff is the rooting value these scenes gave Gio and fellow newcomer Emma Scorpio-Drake. All of a sudden, there’s a new young couple having a heart-to-heart on Robin and Stone’s (and Jason’s) bridge, and Emma is name-checking her mom while taking Gio’s hand. That’s gold, Jerry.

Not to be outdone, Nina put the pieces together that Michael might be the father of Sasha’s baby, which could help Willow’s custody case. This is on the heels of Drew goading Carly that the absent Michael will blame her when she loses custody of his kids, while also assuring Willow all was going according to plan.

Drew: “We are on a winning streak. You’re going to get permanent custody.”

In strolled Michael to grab Wiley and walk out. The bigger they brag, the harder they fall.

Over on DAYS, Sarah knew about Philip forging the letter that gave him half of Titan but kept the secret out of 1) fear that Xander would hurt Philip, and 2) a sense of fairness.

Sarah: “Kate said Victor would want Philip to have part of the company. Philip was Victor’s son, too. Why should he be punished for having a mental illness?”

Xander: “Your bleeding heart sided with a crazy person over your own husband.”

Nice try. Xander turned out to be the crazy person, beating Philip so badly he wound up in the ER, where the doctor on duty was… Sarah. She immediately suspected Xander had done it, which doesn’t say much about their marriage but does speak to how well she knew her husband.

Sarah: “What you did to Philip proved my instincts were dead on. I was right. Look at your history: You went after Brady with a baseball bat, and you pointed a gun at Philip’s head and pulled the trigger.”

Xander: “It wasn’t loaded.”

Oh, well, that’s okay then.

Where does this leave them? Xander moved out and will likely go to jail, Sarah is a heartbroken single mom, Philip is hovering near death, Maggie is bereft, Titan is in trouble, and the Kiriakis family is in shambles. Well done!

Y&R’s Michael got so fed up with Victor’s threats against the Abbotts that he finally quit Newman Enterprises, which was surprising only to Victor. He warned Victor over and over that he wanted no part of it, but The Mustache was oblivious.

Victor: “Family does not abandon family!”

Michael: “I have a son I should be spending more time with. I have a wife I’ve neglected.”

Victor: “Stop all these excuses. What’s the real reason?”

Michael: “This is happening because of your blind, endless battle against Jack Abbott. I cannot go down that road with you. I won’t do it.”

Victor refused to wish his longtime consigliere well and later chastised Nikki when she offered her sympathy.

Victor: “Don’t ever mention Michael Baldwin to me again.”

Positioning Michael between Victor and Jack ratchets up the Newman/Abbott rivalry and confirms to Jack that his nemesis is going after his family (again). It’s funny how Victor thinks he can be a total jerk and then buy Nikki presents to appease her. I wonder how he’d feel if he overheard this conversation?

Nikki: “Victor brought this on himself.”

Lauren: “It takes guts to say no to Victor Newman.”

Nick: “And live to tell about it.”

Not exactly a ringing endorsement when your own son cracks jokes about you murdering your enemies, but this does shake things up in sleepy Genoa City.

Liam keeping the secret that he’s dying won’t shake up B&B as much as Liam actually dying, but his ex-wives joining forces did raise a lot of Forrester eyeballs.

Brooke: “Not only is Hope back at Forrester, she and Steffy are trying to make peace.”

Ridge: “It’s very unexpected. Steffy doesn’t usually change her mind without discussing it first.”

Brooke: “Maybe she realized firing Hope was a mistake.”

Ridge: “Or maybe we’re missing something.”

Bingo.

There are two bad things floating around the Duprees on BTG (that we know of), ready to upend the action. Martin misbehaved so badly that Bill blackmailed Anita and Vernon over it — and hinted about it to Martin’s husband — but that fool still confronted Bill at the club.

Martin: “Do you have a death wish?”

Bill: “Your ambitions are writing checks that your position can’t cash. You need to be careful with those impulses. They never end well.”

A dire warning about what Bill knows sent the congressman scurrying, but his temper is something to watch.

Ditto the efforts of Martin’s grandmother, Anita, to revive her career with The Articulettes despite “what happened.” She told her former partner, Tracy, that work was her salvation back in the day.

Anita: “Sometimes you have to save yourself before you can save anyone else.”

Tracy: “I’m not buying it.”

They kumbaya’d and agreed on a reunion concert, but will first have to convince the third member of their group.

Anita: “Sharon hates me.”

Tracy: “Sharon may refuse your calls, but not mine.”

Anita is braced for another showdown, but as she told Vernon, it’s hard to erase the past because “the people you hurt bear witness.”

That’s Fairmont Crest code for: All secrets will eventually come out!

Hey. It’s only my opinion.