Liz and Ric Part Two (2014–2015)

Port Charles 411: Ric and Liz, Part Two (2014–2015)

If you listened to Part One of our Ric and Liz retrospective, you already know we went into this with complicated feelings. Ric Lansing is not a villain in the traditional sense. He is a man who genuinely loves someone and somehow manages to find new ways to ruin it. Part Two covers 2014 through 2015, and it does not disappoint on that front.

Pull up a chair. There is a lot to get through.

The Return (March 2014)

Ric had been gone for about ten years when he walked back into Port Charles and directly into Elizabeth's orbit. His opening line, upon seeing her for the first time in a decade, was essentially you are still as beautiful as ever. Felix, who was standing right there, had no idea who this man even was. Liz had apparently never mentioned her marriage to Ric to her close friend. Make of that what you will.

Still, something sparked. Ric asked her to dinner. There were roses. There was dancing. There was a violinist at a private candlelit restaurant dinner he booked under the name Barney Rubble, which genuinely made her laugh, and honestly — credit where it is due, that is charming.

The evening ended at the Metro Court. They rekindled things. And then Anna Devane kicked the door in with a search warrant.

Timing, as always, was not on their side.

The Framing, the Faking, and the Witness Protection Program

Ric was arrested on the allegation that he was running the Jerome crime organization. He wasn't. Julian's actual boss had framed him, planted a gun in his suite, and made the evidence look airtight. Ric spent the early part of his re-entry into Liz's life protesting his innocence from a jail cell while Liz showed up at Alexis's door at midnight demanding Julian confess.

He did not confess. Liz was not pleased.

Things escalated quickly. Ric was shot during a struggle at the police station — or so it appeared. Anna revealed to Liz shortly after that Ric had actually faked his death and was being moved into witness protection to avoid tipping off the man who framed him. Little Molly, who could not have been more than twelve or thirteen at the time, went down to the police station to hire Diane Miller herself. A twelve-year-old. Hiring a defense attorney. For her father. We had feelings about this.

Before leaving, Ric stood outside in the parking lot and listened to Liz tell Nicholas how surreal and heartbreaking it all felt. He watched from a distance and said nothing. Then he got in a van and disappeared.

Enter Jake Doe

While Ric was gone, Liz had invited a man with no memory and no last name to stay at her house. His name, for the time being, was Jake Doe. He had been found on the side of the road, had undergone facial reconstruction surgery, and had no idea who he was. Liz believed in him. They grew close. They kissed under mistletoe.

And then Ric showed up on her porch on Christmas Eve.

Jake quietly packed his things, told Liz she deserved better than a man who couldn't even tell her his real name, and moved out. The timing was, again, not ideal for anyone.

The Man, the Watch, the Scheme

Ric came back committed. He wore the watch Liz had given him on their wedding day — had kept it tucked away for years and pulled it back out when he decided he was ready to try again. He said all the right things. He made a real effort with her boys. He got Cameron to open up about his crush on Emma. He had Molly babysit so he could take Liz to dinner.

And then he hired a woman from a dating website to pretend to be Jake's wife.

Ric located a woman named Hayden Barnes through an online dating site — noted the lack of chemistry between them immediately, and decided she would be useful — paid her to show up at Elizabeth's door with a fake marriage certificate, staged photographs, a fabricated social security card, a manufactured insurance card, and eventually a full supporting cast that included a man named Pete who he hired to pose as Jake in the photos.

Pete, it should be noted, subsequently tried to blackmail Ric. Repeatedly.

Ric paid him. Repeatedly.

At one point, Ric was sneaking Pete out the back of Kelly's when Dante and Lulu walked in the front. The whole scheme had the structural integrity of wet paper.

Hayden, for her part, told Liz that she and Jake had been intimate and coined the phrase "amnesia sex," which she deployed at a restaurant table in front of Ric and Liz while Carly watched both of their faces for a reaction. The table was silent for a beat longer than anyone wanted it to be.

Carly Versus Everyone

We want to take a moment here for Carly Corinthos.

Carly was the first person to tell Liz, in plain language, that something was wrong with Hayden's story. She noted that it had taken this woman six months to track down a man living twenty minutes away. She tracked down Pete herself, showed up at his door with a fabricated job offer, sat down in his apartment, and told him the only acting he would be doing in the future would be with his fellow prison inmates. She was right. He cracked.

Carly has historically not been on Elizabeth's side. But during this stretch, she was operating in genuine solidarity with her — not because they were friends exactly, but because she recognized what was happening and she was not going to let it stand. It was good television. It was also, notably, one of the few times someone in Port Charles correctly read the room.

The Nurses' Ball

Ric decided the Nurses' Ball was the right venue to propose.

He had Molly deliver a small black ring box to Elizabeth's table mid-performance. He took the stage, spoke emotionally about second chances and gratitude, and sang a love song while photographs of his and Liz's life together scrolled across a screen behind him. It was, up to a certain point, genuinely moving.

Then the screen switched to a fake wedding photo of Jake and Hayden. Then Carly walked out. Then Pete followed her onto the stage and told the entire ballroom exactly what Ric had done.

Elizabeth slapped him.

She told him that if he had ever truly loved or respected her, he would not have taken away her ability to choose. Ric — in what may be the most revealing thing he has ever said — responded that there should never have been a choice. That she belonged with him, not Jake.

She told him he was not good enough for her, that she never wanted to see him again, and walked away.

The Aftermath, Briefly

The same night Ric was exposed in front of the entire Nurses' Ball audience, he ran into Nina at the bar. She was kind to him. He proposed. They got married the next day.

Franco pointed out that he didn't even have a ring for Nina. He had the ring he bought for Liz in his pocket. Ric pulled out the Liz ring and gave it to her.

Where We Left Off

As of Part Two, Ric and Liz are not together. They have had some dinners. They have acknowledged their mutual history. But Lucky returned to town around the same time Ric came back, and things got complicated in a different direction before they could fully restart.

Part Three — whenever it arrives — will cover what happens when they actually try again. We have our guesses about where it goes. Whether we're right remains to be seen.

Want to hear us talk through all of this in real time — part Two of our Ric and Liz retrospective is up now. Find us at GeneralHospitalPodcast.com or wherever you listen.

Pier 54 publishes new episodes every Monday and Thursday. Monday recaps cover the week's episodes, and Thursday's Port Charles 411 goes deep on history, characters, and storylines. If you've been a fan since the beginning or you're just catching up, there's a seat at the pier for you.