A Critic’s Review of General Hospital: Shock, Awe, And Machinations

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

Markdown this day, because I’m going to say something nice about General Hospital’s head writers Chris and Dan/ Dan and Chris – I’m thoroughly impressed that they actually “went there” and had Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner) point out the hypocrisy that reigns supreme when it comes to who the Corinthos do and do not hold to a high moral standard, and their propensity to keep children from their biological parents.

What didn’t impress me was some of the more…let’s call them questionable choices made during the petition hearing.

Firstly, if the point is to paint Nina Reeves (Cynthia Watros) as some sort of sociopathic, uncaring, selfish monster, why would Diane Miller (Carolyn Hennesy) bring up the fact that Nina was a victim of her own mercenary mother’s machinations, and why would she berate Nina for truly believing that had she been given the opportunity to parent Nelle Benson, then Nelle would have turned out a decent human being?

Not for nothing, but if I was the judge hearing Nina’s story for the first time, I might be inclined to be sympathetic. It’s not as though Nina asked to be drugged into a coma and have her baby (or babies, as is now the case) stolen from her.

And with the foreknowledge that Nina’s past misdeeds are going to be dredged up, why did Scott not have, say, Ava Jerome Cassadine (Maura West) on hand to explain that, despite, or perhaps because of everything they’d been through – Avery’s birth most certainly included – she and Nina are now good buddies? Surely that would have given Nina a leg up.

Oh, and speaking of dredging up history, I gasped when General Hospital’s Thursday installment ended with Scott asking Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell) about Claudia Zacchara.

I was also left wondering how this would possibly help Nina’s case. After all, Michael only killed Claudia in defense of his mother and newborn sister. But then it all came flooding back to me. Michael wasn’t too bothered by what he did – a fact that he testified to – he was quite happy letting Sonny take the rap for him, and he failed to actually serve out the time he was sentenced to. It is kind of hard to feel sorry for a man who’s never had to take any real responsibility for his own actions.

Further GH Musings

* Another week, another five days of no concrete answers where Marshall (Robert Gossett) and that go nowhere storyline is concerned.

* I get that Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) has never been General Hospital’s brightest character, but does she really, REALLY believe that Harmony (Inga Cadranel) murdered two people and planned to do away with two more to hush up someone willingly handing her a baby?

* Nail + Head: Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) got it in one when he deduced that Brook Lynn Quartermaine (Amanda Setton) was using her war with Linc (Dan Buran) as a distraction from mourning the loss of Bailey Louise.

* Now that she’s had the son, it appears that she’s going to try for the father. Is this Alexis Davis (Nancy Lee Grahn) or Reva Shayne 2.0?

* Where do Michael and Drew Cain (Cameron Mathison) get off telling Ned Quartermaine (Wally Kurth) he can’t run a merged ELQ/Aurora because he doesn’t have any media experience. What experience do/did they have?

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.