A Critic’s Review of General Hospital: Compounding Observations

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

Like the rest of you, I know next to nothing about General Hospital’s Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl). Heck, like I wrote a few weeks ago, I’m still debating what kind of daddy Ryan Chamberlin (Jon Lindstrom) is to her – birth, or otherwise. What I do know, is that Esme is Bobbie Spencer-ing this mother, and I am here for it.

But now I have a question. When Esme’s baby lie is exposed – and it is inevitable…right Bobbie? – does she have a brother (adopted, biological, or otherwise) with a mop of permed hair that’ll come and help her out of her spot?

Actually, I have two questions. There’s the one above, and this one: since it’s been established that Esme was merely using Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Alexander Chavez) as a means to an end, why go to all the trouble of faking a pregnancy? What’s the end goal here?

Also, did Ryan sign off on all this? Pfft, look at me asking a third question. Well, since I’m on a roll, I’ll just press on.

What were the General Hospital writers thinking with that ridiculous Spencer/Ryan/Harmony (Inga Cadranel) scene? Do they expect me, you, everybody else watching that Ryan blinked to Harmony – word by word – all that dialogue that she threw at Spencer? That he really had contingencies for whatever avenue the conversation took?

And do Dan and Chris/Chris and Dan really expect anyone to believe that Ryan is stupid enough to blink out such a threatening note to Harmony. How else do you interpret “I’ll free you…the only way I know how,” then I’m going to break your neck like the last lady that tried to help me when I was imprisoned? Ryan is many things. Crazy as a loon, top of the list. But stupid he is not.

That all makes about as much sense as Selina Wu (Lydia Look) wanting to install Brad Cooper (Parry Shen) as emcee of her poker tournaments rather than allow him to take a job at GH. What would the parole board rather see: a former inmate working at a respected institution, or at a nightclub and under the auspice of his criminally inclined aunt? Hmmm…this doesn’t seem like a tough one General Hospital.

Further GH Musings

* Here’s a question for you, my fellow General Hospital fans: Who still cares about Marshall Ashford (Robert Gossett) and what secrets he is keeping? As far as I’m concerned, this is all too little, too late. The character has been an infuriating conundrum-cum-drag since day one.

* Kudos to GH for the scenes featuring Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) and Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) reflecting on their decades-long feud.

* Welcome to the team Tabyana Ali. As far as debut episodes and first impressions go, I’m pretty impressed. The chemistry is definitely there between Ali and Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy), which is a great sign…but the real test will be whether or not Ali has a spark with Chavez and Maura West.

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.