A Critic’s Review of General Hospital: A Lesson In Actors Vs Characters

When it comes to General Hospital, every fan has their own opinion – and Soap Hub is no different. For five days, we sat and watched the good, the bad, and everything in between, and now we offer you a handy review, and a cheeky critique, of the GH week that was.

General Hospital: A Critic’s Week In Review

Greetings and salutations fellow General Hospital enthusiasts! Having poured over the plethora of comments about last week’s column, I’ve realized that I need to set the record straight with quite a few of you.

First and foremost, a heartfelt thank you to all the readers who accepted my previous missive with the spirit in which it was very much intended. You and your kind words are very much appreciated.

Now, let’s get down to business…

It seems that the biggest misconception amongst the lot of you is that I am a Laura Wright hater. This could not be further from the truth. I have loved the luminous Laura since her days on The City when she was steaming up the screen with her future General Hospital co-star Ted King.

I ADORED her Cassie Layne Winslow on CBS’s Guiding Light and was utterly shattered when she jumped ship for GH – and while Nicole Foster did an admirable job filling in for the remainder of LIGHT’s run, I just couldn’t bring myself to accept her in the role; she wasn’t “my Cassie.”

And here’s another fact that might shock you…Carly Roberts Quartermaine Corinthosx1,000 Jacks use to be one of my all-time favorite characters on General Hospital.

Want to know what soured me on the character? As the years went on – and on and on and on (this is a soap opera after all) – the various writing regimens took a crackerjack like Carly and boiled her down to nothing more than a hypocritical shrew.

That’s not at all Laura Wright’s fault. I know that and you know that, General Hospital fans everywhere know that.

The point of the matter is, I do not like Carly – or, at least the Carly that I’ve seen on my screen for the last 12-15 years – and no amount of browbeating me, calling me a jerk, or calling my integrity as a critic/journalist into question is going to change that.

Here’s hoping that we’re all on the same page now and can move forward…yes? I really hope that’s the case because I’m about to launch into yet another diatribe about Miss Thang and the General Hospital writers’ insistence on refusing to allow Carly any self-awareness or maturation.

When Carly asked Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart), “What is it about Nina that makes otherwise rational men come to her defense,” I rolled my eyes so hard I honestly feared that they might escape their sockets.

What I wish Valentin had been allowed to counter with is, “I don’t know Carly. What is it about you that made Jason Morgan, Sonny Corinthos, Jasper Jax, Lorenzo Alcazar, Todd Manning, and Franco Baldwin lose all semblance of common sense and come running to your defense Every. Single. Time. You. Called?!”

Also, why has Carly kept mum about the identity of yet another one of Nina Reeves’s (Cynthia Watros) children? This only proves Nina’s point that Carly is big and bad, and she’s the poor put-upon victim…which I, you, we know, isn’t exactly true.

And here’s another point that I need to clear up real quick – I am not a Nina fan either. Go back and read my previous work. I’ve stated categorically that I don’t feel sorry for anyone in this storyline. Not Carly, not Nina, and not even Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard).

That said, Chris and Dan/Dan and Chris need to go back and watch the General Hospital that they’ve been penning, and see that Nina did not, repeat, did not keep Sonny’s identity a secret for nine months. Four to five, sure. But that man was in Nixon Falls quite a while before Nina ever darkened The Tan-o.

I’d plead with the powers that be at GH to do better, and not drag out this pitiful Nina is Willow Tait’s (Katelyn MacMullen) biological mother storyline any further than it needs to be, but I know that it’d be futile.

Further GH Musings

* I want to be the first to say it – though I’m sure I have been beaten to the punch – Genie Francis was robbed! Her work last year, especially in scenes opposite Jeff Kober’s Cyrus was revelatory, and, at the very least, worthy of a Daytime Emmy Award nomination.

* Is it even a mystery anymore as to who it is that’s “haunting” Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst)?

* Given that Chet Driscoll is a double amputee (as is his portrayer, real-life military veteran-turned-actor Chris Van Etten) and a recovering drug addict and that Dr. Terry Randolph is a proud transgender woman (as is her portrayer, Cassandra James) do we really need manufactured conflict between the two in the form of Terry’s sudden adversarial relationship with Chet’s sister, Amy Driscoll (Risa Dorken)? The inherent drama is already there; invest in that.

* Okay General Hospital, you got me. I was sure that we were headed for a “money gets in the way of romance” story for Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms) and Austin Gatlin-Holt (Roger Howarth), but it now seems like the real trouble is coming courtesy of little Georgie. This could be interesting.

* Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) telling Willow that his mother would never lie has got to be the biggest lie that he’s ever told.

* Please, please, please tell me that guilt isn’t going to get the best of Curtis Ashford (Donnell Turner) and spur him into tracking down Marshall (Robert Gossett). I’d much rather this non-story just come to a definitive end.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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