General Hospital commentary: Yoo hoo, a new Lulu

Alexa Havins brought Lulu home to Port Charles, but did the writers ruin things by moving a little too quickly with this storyline? Meanwhile, Anna is on a mission to find Charlotte by any means necessary. Is Anna trying to do the right thing or right her own wrong? Let’s delve into a new General Hospital commentary for the week ending December 6, 2024.

Lulu on the loose (but not at General Hospital)

It’s a miracle! No, really it is. Not only is Lulu awake, but she hit the ground running. Literally.

After overhearing Cyrus claiming to be her uncle and making plans to have her transferred to another facility, Lulu decided to skedaddle. She jumped out of bed, pulled the fire alarm, and made a hasty escape. Good thing everything she needed — shoes, a pair of slacks and hoodie — was conveniently located at the front desk. Double bonus that everything fit her like a glove. If not, poor Lulu would have been thumbing her way to Port Charles with her hospital gown flapping in the wind.

I love a good soapy moment as much as the next person. It’s why I’ve been a dedicated General Hospital viewer since the beginning of time. However, there’s a fine line between dramatic liberty and the absurd. Lulu’s flight from Turning Woods was definitely the latter. The idea that Lulu would be able to walk out of her room let alone down a dark stretch of road and hitchhike is laughable.

Sadly, the excitement of Lulu’s little adventure back to the land of the living was dimmed by the ridiculousness of it all.

You don’t need a medical degree to know that no one wakes up from a four-year coma and walks unassisted out of the facility a few days later. It’s a process that can take months. My sister was in an extended coma following a car accident back when we were teens. It took days for her to fully wake up and three months of daily physical therapy for her to be able to walk. Her arms and legs were like limp spaghetti noodles, and she was weak as a kitten.

Lulu waking up — sans a feeding tube — and walking within a couple of days was silly. The writers did such a disservice to Lulu’s comeback story by rushing this. I expect more from scribes who write for a soap opera called General Hospital.

Also, will someone please remember that Lulu is a recent liver transplant recipient who requires timed anti-rejection medication several times a day? Lulu arguing about not going to General Hospital to be checked out was dangerous and made everyone look reckless. If nothing else, Lulu needs a refill of her many medications.

How do you do, Lulu?

Despite my gripes with the plot, I really enjoyed Alexa Havens as Lulu. She reminds me a lot of Julie Marie Berman who played Lulu throughout Lulu’s teens and early adulthood. It makes it easier to see Alexa as Lulu, and it adds an air of nostalgia to these emotional reunions. Several have packed quite a powerful punch.

After encountering James at her old house, Lulu quickly made her way to the Quartermaine estate where she reunited with Rocco. Of all the reunions, that was the one I had most wanted to see because Rocco had been struggling. He’d forgotten the sound of his mother’s voice, and he feared that he would lose more memories of Lulu as time marched on. As a mother, I hate seeing a kid in pain. Even when that kid is on a soap opera.

It was so bittersweet to see Danny hovering in the hallway as Rocco’s prayers were answered.

The reunion was everything that I could have hoped for and more. I was misty-eyed, but they were tears of joy. Alexa did a marvelous job of conveying both Lulu’s elation at seeing her son and Lulu’s shock at realizing that Rocco had aged years since she’d last seen him.

How do you even begin to wrap your mind around losing four years of her life in an instant and learning that your father, nephew, and aunt all died, and your brother is in prison? I was an absolute mess for weeks when my dad passed. I couldn’t imagine losing several loved ones in essentially one fell swoop.

Reunions upon reunions

Equally touching was Lulu’s reunion with Dante and Lucky. I just wish Dante had been the one to tell Lulu about Sam because it would have meant more coming from the man who had loved Sam. I was pleasantly surprised though during Lucky and Lulu’s conversation. It was the first time that I actually liked Lucky since his return.

Lulu’s reunion with Laura came in a close second to her reunion with Rocco. It pulled at the heartstrings and had me reaching for my tissues. It was so beautifully written, and both Genie Francis and Alexa have a wonderful mother-daughter chemistry. I felt their bond instantly. Genie’s performance was flawless from the second she entered that apartment and saw her daughter.

I quickly got over my annoyance that Laura had wasted time confronting Cyrus rather than searching for her daughter. I’m a mama bear to the core. I don’t care if the world was on fire, nothing would stop me from searching for my kiddos if they were missing.

Cyrus is cuckoo

Cyrus’ recent actions made it abundantly clear that he is definitely up to no good. He lied to the Turning Woods director about his role in the family, and his plot to have Lulu moved to a facility in Georgia without Laura’s knowledge was super shady. I hope someone confronts Cyrus about his illicit plans soon because he has some explaining to do.

Almost from the beginning, I’ve suspected Cyrus of having turned off Lulu’s ventilator. I theorized that Cyrus saw himself as some kind of Angel of Death intent on putting Lulu out of her misery and giving Laura closure. My theory shifted when Sam died because there is no way that lethal dosage of Digitalis was a careless mistake. Sam might not have been the intended victim, but that deadly syringe was meant to kill someone. Perhaps Lulu? Cyrus’ shifty behavior reeks of sinister intentions.

Does Lulu know something about Cyrus that he doesn’t want anyone else to know? Something he’s willing to murder his own family for.

Anna’s hypocrisy is poo-poo

Anna is the police commissioner, but she only follows the law when it’s convenient. When it’s not, she’s asking private citizens — like Carly — to do illegal things like plant a bug in the WSB Station Chief’s office. Jason called Anna out on her dangerous request, but she showed little remorse. Anna was pleased as punch that Carly had succeeded in the endeavor.

Mind you, none of this would have been necessary if Anna hadn’t let Valentin escape justice in the first place. She felt she owed it Charlotte for shooting the teen who had broken into Anna’s apartment. (I talk about the blame game in the next section of this General Hospital commentary!)

This whole mess is of Anna’s own making, and she definitely broke some laws doing it.

Is the PCPD really a police department?

I don’t understand why Anna can’t use the law to her advantage. As the police commissioner, she should be able to secure a warrant to eavesdrop on Brennan’s calls if she believes he helped Valentin disappear. Why would she put Carly in the middle of this nonsense? Also, why is this Jason’s problem? It’s annoying how Anna keeps pulling Jason into her problems. What happened to Anna refusing to be friends with Jason as long as he remained Sonny’s enforcer?

Does the Port Charles Police Department not have any cyber experts and detectives? What’s the point of being a police commissioner if you aren’t even going to use the tools at your disposal to enforce the law and solve crimes? Of course, Anna had good reason to not involve the police. She is hoping to keep her own criminal behavior buried.

That’s what happens when you have rules for thee but not for me.

The writers are doing such an injustice to Anna. She’s worse than Sonny. He is upfront about who he is, while Anna hides behind the mantle of respectability.

The blame game on General Hospital

One thing that soap characters love to do is make everything about themselves. When a tragedy strikes, inevitably, there’s at least one character ready to take the blame.

Anna was justified in shooting Charlotte. It was tragic, and I’m glad that Charlotte didn’t die, but Charlotte had been playing a dangerous game. I never understood why Charlotte would so easily believe Victor Cassadine’s poisoned pen letter instead of going to Valentin and asking him about his evil father. I thought Charlotte and Valentin were closer than that.

Recently, both Dante and Rocco insisted that Sam wouldn’t have died if it hadn’t been for them. They believed that Sam had only agreed to donate her liver because of them. It’s not true. Sam was motivated to get tested because she loved both Dante and Rocco, but she donated her liver lobe because she wanted to help Lulu. Terry had made a point of discussing that with Sam. Sam herself had been in Dante and Rocco’s shoes when Danny was a baby and in need of a life-saving bone marrow donation from Julian. For Sam, she was paying that gift of life foward.

The blame game works the other way too. There are no shortages of adversarial relationships on General Hospital. Whenever something awful occurs — and it can be construed as intentional — soap characters are quick to point fingers at their enemies. Such is the case with Kristina and Ava.

You shrew, it was you!

This week, Ric achieved what he had set out to do; he convinced his daughter that Kristina’s fall out the window and Irene’s subsequent death was all a terrible tragedy. No one was to blame. But Kristina — not Ava — was the aggressor. T.J. is livid. His relationship with Molly fell apart, the verdict wasn’t what he wanted, and he resents Kristina. T.J. never trusted Kristina to be a good surrogate because she’s mercurial, easily triggered, and destructive. She’s also incredibly selfish.

I found Kristina’s conversation with Natalia incredibly confusing. Kristina said something to the effect that she needed to hear the truth about the car accident from Natalia — not the lies that Natalia told on the stand — because it would confirm that Kristina correctly remembered the encounter with Ava. That makes no sense. The viewers have seen several of Kristina’s flashbacks of the fall and each time it’s crystal clear that Ava did not push Kristina.

Is Kristina intentionally lying about Ava pushing her or is Kristina refusing to believe her own memories because they don’t fit the narrative that absolves her of any wrongdoing?

Not guilty — and public enemy number one too

Ava was elated with her victory, but Sonny and Kristina were not satisfied with the verdict. Kristina was stunned as she sat in shocked silence. She couldn’t understand how twelve jurors didn’t believe her lies/delusion. Sonny had assured his daughter that he would be there for her if the worst should happen. Unfortunately for Sonny, the worst did happen, and Kristina is going to want to collect on that promise. How far is Sonny willing to go to feed Kristina’s thirst for revenge?

Sonny, Kristina, and Alexis are always quick to accuse Ava of weaponizing Sonny’s “child” against him because Scott had called Kristina to testify. Kristina is a 30-something adult who had witnessed Sonny violently attack Dex. It sucks that Kristina was in that position, but it was fair game in a custody fight. Yet, Sonny, Kristina, nor Alexis batted an eyelash when Sonny tried to punish Ava by refusing to let her have a visit with Avery. Last time I checked, Avery was an actual child who loves her mother very much. I guess it’s okay when Sonny weaponizes a child.

The breakup blues

Sadly, T.J. and Molly couldn’t overcome the loss of Irene. T.J. is hurting, but he still wants a family. Molly isn’t there. She’s determined to spare herself more heartache by letting go of her dreams of having a family. It’s sad to see.

I know that T.J.’s heart is in the right place, but I suspect he hopes to heal himself by fixing Molly. Unfortunately, T.J. expects Molly to grieve in the same way that he is, but her pain is different. She not only lost two children, but she also lost her ability to have biological children. It’s easier for T.J. to see his future with children because his fertility hasn’t been impacted.

It breaks my heart that T.J. and Molly separated because they were such a great example of a healthy and loving couple. That was until Kristina put herself in the middle of their relationship.

I’m sorry, but I blame Kristina for all of this. She lives in chaos and thrives on misery. It was never about helping Molly and T.J. become parents. It was all about making Kristina feel better about herself. Kristina needs constant affirmation because she feels like a failure compared to all the overachievers around her. She latched onto the idea of being Molly’s surrogate because it made her feel important. It’s why she took it so personally when Molly initially rejected the idea.

When Molly didn’t fall to her knees and include Kristina in every aspect of the baby planning, Kristina felt rejected. Kristina resented that she was not the center of attention as the surrogate. Even while Kristina was secretly plotting to keep the baby, she was always quick to remind everyone that she was being selfless by helping her sister become a mother. She even did it on the witness stand.

Lies. All lies.

Kristina was never the hero in this story.

Cue Kristina’s revenge

The problem with Kristina is that she has zero coping skills. Sonny and Alexis coddled her to the point that she cannot handle it when things don’t go her way. Whenever she’s on the losing end of something, she digs in, lashes out and leaves it to others to clean up her mess.

I’ve long concluded that the reason Alexis handles Kristina with kid gloves is because Alexis fears Kristina’s volatile temper. She doesn’t favor and cater to Kristina out of love, but rather because it’s easier to manage Kristina that way. Perhaps Alexis sees shades of Sonny in Kristina. I do.

By contrast, Molly matured at a very young age, and she learned to be self-reliant. Molly has been conditioned to bury her feelings and move on because she’s always taken a backseat to Kristina.

I know Kristina is hurting, but what she said to Molly was cruel. I think it was easy for Kristina to go there because Kristina never saw Molly as Irene’s mother.

No Quartermaine Thanksgiving pizza for me and you. Boo!

What the heck writers? Where’s our Quartermaine Thanksgiving episode?! A pox on you for cheating us out of our annual pizza dinner hijinks.

I think that’s why I’m so salty this week. I missed seeing the zaniness of a Quartermaine Thanksgiving. No Sasha burning the turkey and announcing she’s pregnant with the next Q heir; no not-so-shocking revelation that Drew is sleeping with is his niece-in-law; no Ned and Michael uniting to take down sleazy Drew; no Jason announcing that he — the favorite son — has Monica’s blessing to move back in; no Brook Lynn Quartermaine revealing that Gio is Dante’s long-lost secret son; no Lulu showing up dancing the jig in middle of the mayhem. So many missed opportunities.

Instead, we got Carly mediating Drew and Jason’s spat and reminding them that Sam would want them both to put their children first. I like Carly, but she doesn’t have to be part of everything. For instance, I would have preferred that Danny and Jason had their father-son moment alone.

General Hospital Quick Takes:

Did anyone else notice the soot in Lulu’s hair during the flashback of the night of the explosion? It looked professionally and evenly applied. I never saw someone look so good with soot in their hair.

Cody must have bad eyesight. He saw Lulu when he visited Dante in her hospital room not too long ago.

Is there a history rewrite in the works? I don’t recall Cody knowing Brook Lynn prior to arriving in Port Charles. However, during Wednesday’s episode Cody mentioned that Brook Lynn had attended camp with Dante and Cody.

Can someone please get rid of the hideous jungle wallpaper in Anna’s apartment? It’s not at all her style.

I love hearing from readers, so please be sure comment below. Happy viewing,
Liz Masters

For more commentary, be sure to check out my author’s page.