Sonny talking about Lily like she was the love of his life is the result of Nostalgia Filter as opposed to a Retcon.
Fans have long been up in arms over Sonny's gushing over his late wife Lily like she was a saint and his true love. After all, he never wanted to be married to her in the first place and always wanted Brenda instead. However, isn't that what people often due with dead people? Their negative memories subside and positive ones become more powerful. Plus, for all her flaws, Lily was loyal and understood what was expected of a mob wife. This is something he has had problems with regarding his love interests ever since, even with Brenda who he really loved. Of course, then there is the fact that she is the fact that she was carrying his first child (that he knew of) when she died and that he blames himself for her death. Therefore, a Stepford Smiler who he largely viewed as a platonic life partner at best and a burden at worst is now his ideal wife and Too Good for This Sinful Earth. This is a good example of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cn1jr5g63kg
Connie intentionally woke up as Kate as her final act to destroy Sonny and Kate's relationship
This troper believes that Connie intentionally let Kate have control again so Kate could see that Sonny had sex with Connie. Connie thinks that if Kate would see this, she would immediately leave Sonny for good. Thus her work would finally be done. Some of the Revolution characters remember this show.
Jeremy Baker directly mentioned One Life To Live. It's hard to say how many soap operas the older characters remember. Sonny's shipments are contraband and/or not exactly illegal.
If he isn't selling drugs or women, there are very few things that he could be selling. Maybe the fact that he's often labeled as Public Enemy #1 is not that what his organization sells is illegal, but that the means in which it is sold, is. When he first came onto the show, he did sell drugs, but either it has been retconned that he never did or decided that he was better than that and found a new avenue instead. He could possibly be selling weapons instead or selling some form of vigilantism that either he or his men carry out (the shipments are not monetary payments, but property payments instead that Sonny sells on the black market to make his money). Maybe the shipments are stolen merchandise that Sonny sells on the black market, which would mean that his organization is just a glorified den of thieves. This would normally not be a problem for the police, but it's the scale and size of it that makes it qualify as organized crime and thus, shows why Sonny gets so much flack for it. His business possibly (with the exception of the vigilantism) is consistent of only misdemeanors that because they're on a mass scale, amplify it into the criminal syndicate everyone seems to see it as. Carly will die in a murder-suicide.
It will be in the same fashion as Sherry Palmer in Season 3 of 24. In other words, she will be the victim. She will eventually piss off and/or ruin the life of a certain female character whose mental health is either deteriorating and/or deteriorates because of what she's done to her. Many people will likely see her as having gone too far this time. The character will confront Carly at home and pull out a gun. Carly will taunt the character to a point (likely before the gun is revealed) and then begin to beg for her life. The character, growing increasingly hysterical, calls Carly out for all the pain and suffering others have felt because of her too and how now is the moment when it ends. She shoots Carly in the chest four times and then once in the head to confirm to the audience that she's dead. The character then breaks down horrified over what she's done (or at that point is just emotionally spent over it all), begs for forgiveness, then point the gun at her own head and finish herself off. Sonny and Jason will both be devastated by what's transpired and be lost because they don't know how to respond to it as the perpetrator is dead too. Jax will have egg on his face since it's ironically not Sonny's association with her that did her in. The dynamics will be reworked between many of the characters. Things Carly did that nobody knew about will come to light, like how she tried to split Dante and Lulu up with Brook Lyn and when Brook Lyn tried to warn Lulu and make things right, she was telling the truth. Lulu will apologize to Brook Lyn for not believing her, but still be devastated over Carly's death nonetheless. There'll be those that think Carly got what was coming to her and see her death as a good thing too.