General Hospital Commentary: Nothing Good Starts in a Getaway Car

Dearest readers and General Hospital fans, I had to feel for sweet Emma when she broke her grandma’s favorite mug and collapsed to the floor in tears. Grieving someone you have lost is hard, even if that loss isn’t through death. Emma has lost all traces of Anna from her life and that mug was a sad reminder of the past they shared and may never have again. Emma feels helpless and hopeless, despite all the love and support she has around her. 

But she needn’t fret because Valentin has decided to drive a getaway car all the way to France to rescue Anna’a. His latest boo Carly, however, is not at all in favor of his reckless plan. I don’t think it’s jealousy. Yes, Valentin loves Anna, and always will, just as Carly loves Jason and Sonny and always will, but that doesn’t mean those two aren’t falling in love with each other. As an old woman I can now definitively state that hearts can love more than one person at a time. I still love everyone I have ever loved. I have never understood people who despise all their exes and wish evil upon them. But hey, that’s me, you do you.

I understand Carly’s objections, because she can’t take on Cullum, Sidwell and the WSB on her own. She needs Valentin’s expertise. And Valentin doesn’t even know how deeply Charlotte is involved now that Cullum caught her snooping around Wyndemere. Carly made a valid point, if it were Charlotte that was missing instead of Joss, there is no way that Val would abandon his daughter to go and save Anna. 

But I also understand Valentin’s desire to go – because once Anna is moved into a high security mental hospital it would be impossible to reach her – he knows he has to go now or never. However, other people are also working on getting Anna moved to Port Charles, too. It reminds me of when two baseball players are running to catch the same fly ball, and they crash into each other and the ball rolls away into the outfield. Valentin can’t coordinate with Anna’s other supporters because he’s still in hiding, but I can’t imagine that will last for long. But will their efforts collide, or will at least one person succeed in springing her from that French clinic?

I hate to have to say it, but it appears that Willow is that person. With today’s announcement that Willow got the charges dropped against Anna, and that Anna will not be moved to the high security hospital, Willow succeeded where others failed. But will those details make it to Valentin before her runs off to France with outdated info?

There is one person who finally knows the truth about Anna’s mental state, and that is Josslyn. She pieced together that Anna was being held the same place she is and that Anna was gaslighted into thinking Faison was alive. But Joss’ attempts to break free from Cassius have been unsuccessful. She cracked him in the head with a chair, but he grabbed her by the ankle, popped right back up and thwarted her escape plan. Joss found Anna’s note behind her cot, and Cassius said he knew Anna was there, but not why or any details. Josslyn is skeptical, but I think Cassius is telling the truth. He wasn’t Anna’s captor and I doubt that Pascal and Cullum confided in him. 

I hope that Cassius will take Joss up on her offer to partner together because I want him to become the good guy everyone thinks he is. I’m rooting for Cassius, although I think it will take a while for the good people of Port Charles to forgive him once they know the truth. Joss and Cassius have more sizzle together than any of Joss’s former love interests. Maybe the writers will do nothing with that, maybe they will capitalize on it, it’s hard to say. I don’t care at all about their age difference in real life. I have a friend who is an actor and he had a role on a TV series set in high school and he played that role until he was almost 30 and he still looks like he could play a high school student now in his 40’s. It’s acting.

Respectfully Moving On

Readers, I hate to say this, but I think General Hospital has to consider recasting Maxie Jones. I love Kirsten Storms so much, but with all of her health issues and legal issues right now, it seems clear that she won’t be available to film anytime soon. 

This Nathan/Cassius storyline desperately needs Maxie. Maybe Jenn Lilley who filled in for Maxie before? Maybe the lovely Robyn Richards who played young Maxie? Maybe someone totally new. Heck, they could even cast old Lulu Julie Marie Berman in the role. Someone. Maxie needs to be part of a storyline about Nathan. It seemed so weird to me that after having viewers wait so long for Maxie and Nathan’s reunion that Maxie just casually chose Spinelli and was never seen again. I doubt that’s what the writers originally had planned.

And while they are recasting Maxie, they need to recast Jax, too. It’s unthinkable that Carly would not have called Joss’ dad when she found out she was in the WSB, or when Dex died, or when Joss went on her fake photo safari – I now it can’t be Ingo, but there are so many wonderful options of actors out there with Australian accents and hunky physiques and we need a new Jax.

But back to Maxie. I imagine that the original storyline was supposed to be an angst filled love quadrangle with Lulu, Maxie, Nathan, and Spinelli all sifting through big feelings. But Maxie’s health issues prevented her from staying and they had to scramble. The same with Jason’s departure, I read that Steve Burton taking a break so abruptly caused massive rewrites as Jason was central to several storylines and the writers had to pivot. I can’t imagine that’s very easy when they have a storyline all mapped out for months and then one of the actors has to leave.

But their rewriting has brought us some riveting storylines, so I am definitely not complaining. 

When The Payoff Isn’t A Payoff

Okay, a little complaining. Curtis and Jordan’s storyline is not my favorite. And the payoff is going to be so lame. Imagine BLQ saying, “Yeah, you two idiots ran me off the road and I didn’t see that you wrecked and I kept driving to my kid’s concert.” Zzzzzz

It appears that new Detective Joe Fitzpatrick played by Jonathan Bennett is determined to send Curtis to jail for crushing Isaiah’s hand. That part I like. I am curious as to why Detective Fitzpatrick had an instant dislike of Curtis. Do they have history? I don’t know but I hope he keeps Curtis locked up for a while. I’m so sick of Curtis that I find myself rooting for Drew to get up and start talking again. I never thought I’d say that.

Come to Jesus Moments

I saw a video that Cameron Mathison finally had a “come to Jesus” meeting with TPTB at General Hospital and said, “Hey, I have been sitting in this wheelchair blinking for five months, is Drew ever going to get better?” and they assured him that Drew will be up and about in 4-6 weeks, sometime in July. 

Now that Jack Brennan also had a mysterious stroke and Carly is asking the obvious question, “Hey, how come healthy men that go to Willow’s house end up having strokes?” and Liz knows Drew blinked SOS to her and Willow refused him help, it can’t be long until someone figures out Drew needs to be rescued. Wouldn’t it be funny if Michael was the one to save him? I would kind of love that.

My fondest hope is that when Drew is finally free again, he’s Hero Drew and not Dark Drew, I want his awakening to be a genuine reset for the character. Please, dear writers, hear my plea.

Willow and Nina should be sharing a cell in Pentonville for years to come, and I don’t know how the writers are going to extract them from this storyline. Either A) both of their contracts are up and they are leaving the show, or B) the writer’s will have to write something truly ridiculous to keep them freely walking around Port Charles after they shot a man, hid evidence, injected two men with serum to paralyze them, blackmailed people, tried to frame Michael and so on. But stranger things have happened on General Hospital. I was glad to hear Jack talking today, even if it was in Frankenstein sentences. 

For instance, the GH writers tried to make Danny and Charlotte into a couple, until the General Hospital fans collectively said EW and now, they are just Scooby-Doo crime busting teens again, which is much better. But they are in over their heads and they won’t listen to Rocco or anyone else. 

However, I think nearly being disappeared by Cullum scared them enough to make them more cautious. I hope they tell Rocco what they saw so he’s not so alone in everything.

The Teen Scene

The GH teen scene right now is just brilliant. Charlotte (Bluesy Burke), Danny (Asher Antonzyn) and Rocco (Finn Carr) are just tearing up the screen, keeping pace with the adults they interact with and are getting thrilling summer adventure storylines that remind me of GH’s glory days. Truth be told, if they had not SORAS’ed Joss (Soap Opera Rapid Aging Syndrome) – she would be with them because Joss was born in 2009 on the show, so she should only be 17, but they aged her and changed her birthdate. Ha.

Cullum has settled in on Rocco as the shooter, and everyone is in a race to get him away from Cullum. Lulu and Ethan are planning an escape and Dante is planning a lockdown. Readers, I love that Ethan Lovett is back in town and that the writers are writing him fully as Luke Spencer’s son. Need a fake passport? He knows a guy. Need a secret pilot to fly you out of the country? He can do it. Ethan is a lovable scoundrel who stands on the edges and dances with the blurred lines of right and wrong just like his father before him. He was totally ready to leave town with his sister, and with Laura’s blessing, but I don’t think he will have to go now that Rocco made his own getaway plan.

I also love Dante on the total opposite end of the spectrum- he wants to play inside the system even when it has failed him so many times. He thinks a few PCPD bodyguard can protect Rocco, but we know Sidwell and Cullum can level them in an instant and get to Rocco if they want to. Even Dante’s own father Sonny and Laura, the mayor are under Sidwell’s thumb. When I see real life people in the government doing things I thought they’d never do, I think, “What, did Sidwell hide a body in their trunk?” Because we assume they are being blackmailed into doing terrible things as there is no other logical explanation.

But Rocco’s parent’s plans and arguments are a moot point now, Britt is driving his getaway car; Rocco went on the run with his surrogate mom Britt. Not only that, he vowed to stay with her until she dies from Huntington’s. Oh, the heart on this kid! His sweetness and the way he portrays Rocco with such warmth and compassion is his eyes is so captivating. I just love Finn Carr. And I love Britt. I know many people are mad that she’s back on GH. I have read all the comments, but I am so glad she’s there. Haven’t you ever changed your mind? Kelly Thiebaud decided to leave GH and then she decided to come back just like many soap actors have before her. I never understand why people get mad about that. When Rocco said today, “You brought me into this world, and I want to be with you when you leave it.” I cried. Kelly and Finn have a great onscreen connection. 

The relationship that Britt and Rocco have formed seems so genuine. Today’s scenes were particularly sweet with each of them trying to protect the other. Britt clumsily smashed both of their cell phones and took off like a bat out of hell through the GH parking lot, and as an added bonus told Sonny that Sidwell killed Dalton and that Pascal helped cover it up. 

The Kids Are Gonna Be Alright

That information will help Sonny in his quest to get rid of Sidwell and the leverage he has over he and Laura. Sonny thinks that perhaps he can get Pascal to flip on Sidwell, but I am not sure if he will be successful. It’s a longshot.

But what else can Sonny do? What are his options? New employee Ethan is a little distracted, Ric isn’t muscle, Brick only shows up every six months or so, Max and Milo are long gone – who exactly does Sonny have to help enforce his will on his enemies? It’s more than a month out for Jason to return I think, so unless Sonny is going to shoot Sidwell point blank like he did Jagger, I don’t know who he will get to do his evil deeds. Unless Ms. Wu has “Goons for Hire” as one of her side hustles.

Unless of course Nathan (Cassius) convinced Dante to go dark today when he tried to convince Dante to have Sonny get Rocco someplace safe without extradition. Might Dante take out Cullum or Sidwell if it meant saving his son? Oh, I love that for him. 

But the kids aren’t the only ones in danger. Britt was contemplating confessing to Sidwell that Cullum shot Marco because he was trying to help her get her medication. That opens the door for Pascal and Lucas to get caught in the crossfire, too. The bickering between Pascal and Lucas always makes me uneasy because you would think someone like Sidwell with all the evil and illegal things going on in his house would have it rigged with bugs and cameras in every corner. 

The fact that Sidwell never overhears these conversations seems strange. He never sees Cassius coming and going or making snack trays and sneaking them to the sub-basement, (new location!) My husband who pretends he doesn’t watch General Hospital said, “Don’t people still have to get there on a launch? Doesn’t that guy know every time someone gets on the boat that just goes to his house that someone is coming?” I told him Danny stole Jason’s speed boat, and he said “Since when does Jason have a speed boat? I thought he just had a motorcycle.” Ha. Good questions. If a man who only watches General Hospital as he casually walks through the room when I am watching can see the holes in the story, I am sure all of you can, too.

Door Number One… or Door Number Two?

Dear readers, the only reasons I can think of as to why we keep seeing Molly’s follow up exams and such are as follows. Either 1) She is going to get some scary health diagnosis, or 2) the doctor is going to say “Surprise! You’re pregnant!” My guess would be on the latter. I think Molly is carrying a baby cowboy. Women with endometriosis can get pregnant, so it’s a possibility. 

What will happen tomorrow dear readers?

Will Emma make Grandma Anna a new welcome home mug when Valentin breaks her out of Le Loony Bin? Will Carly keep drinking alone while Valentin is looking for Anna and end up in rehab? Will Elizabeth learn not to grab fake passports off of people’s desks and get locked in closets for her trouble? Will Nina fall for Jack while injecting him with paralysis serum the way she fell in love with “Mike” while he was wiping down bars with amnesia instead of taking him home to his family? Will the GH writers ever give Laura a new love interest now that Kevin’s Jon Lindstrom is on Beyond the Gates, or does she have to be lonely forever? Will Ric and Liz fall blissfully in love until Ric buys her a house with a panic room and their dark history comes flooding back? Will we find out the back story of Detective Fitzpatrick and why he feels so passionate about Curtis’ case? Will Isaiah sue Curtis and win the Savoy in payment? Will Michael actually have to go into the office now that Curtis is in jail and can’t run Aurora? Will someone get Emma counseling on survivor’s guilt? Will Liz tell Dante “Tyler Anderson’s” name, or did Britt clock her hard enough that she forgot it? Will Adrianna Leon come back to General Hospital to play Brook Lynn so she can be miraculously healed from her throat slitting incident to sing Before He Cheats again when Chase bangs Willow? 

Only tomorrow knows dear readers and I will tune in tomorrow as long as there are tomorrows. – Tamilu