Am I the only one who thinks "The Balkan" is going to turn out to be the much babbled about Valentin? Or have the writers forgotten about him? The coincidence of the Balkan's hit man of choice being a dead ringer for a Spencer is too much to ignore.

So far, the 2 independant stories involving the elusive Balkan are good, but the Lucky part is starting to drag. I hope they kick it up soon. The Jason & Brenda end of it could get bogged down by Spinelli's creepy obsession with Brenda & the speculation about what's going on with Jason & Brenda.

I expect (well, hope) both stories will be interesting when they finally intersect. I'm only mildly curious to learn what Brenda did to pizz off the Balkan. Judging by her history, she was probably his runaway bride or something like that. I'm guessing the Balkan's assignment for Lucky will probably involve killing her or Sonny because, God forbid there be an engaging story that doesn't involve him. Besides, the one story from the last 10 years that they haven't recycled yet was the whole "Luis comes to town to kill Brenda's former lovers to ensure he has no competition for her affection" story. I just hope that ridiculous scene of the "movie star" wanting to meet the man that stole Brenda from him is the last we see of Murphy. So, I'm cautiously optimistic & hope this story is a sign of overall improvement in the show's writing & plotting.