A Critic’s Review of General Hospital: Plus Ones and a Stone Cold Ghost?

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. Here we lead with optimism. Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we want. So here’s a review of GH’s week that was, which included wedding plus ones, wedding ring disasters, and stone-y confessions.

What I Am Feeling This Week: Prepping for Jason’s Return

I don’t know about you all, but it definitely feels like the shadow of Jason Morgan (Steve Burton, who confirms his first airdate here) has cloaked all of Port Charles. His spirit can be felt in the law enforcement stolen WSB weapons case. Obviously, it’s the same on the mobster side of things. Also, characters are starting to name-drop the guy more and more. So, his absence is definitely being recognized.

FBI + PCPD = Chaos and Confessions

So John!Jagger (Adam J. Harrington) and Anna (Finola Hughes) / Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) are finding it hard to get along. The commissioner thinks her best bet at getting intel is Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober). So she wired him up and sent him into Pentonville to secure knowledge from a prisoner named O’Neill.

Of course, Jagger wasn’t impressed, and he tried to shut down the operation. While it did go ahead, he’s almost validated when Heather (Alley Mills) entered the picture and did her best to mess up Renault and O’Neill’s conversation/confession. Nothing really ever stopped the born-again ex-con, and he got what he could.

The reason why O’Neill lacked the courage to name names is he felt the puppet master of this entire thing could get to him from anywhere and everywhere. It was like he was a ghost. He might as well be dead. Sound familiar? Jason does fall under the dead as a ghost category. And while I immediately envisioned Jason as a new character on CBS’s Ghosts (great show!), I did like the fact that this guy’s so powerful nobody can stop or contain him. And, apparently, they can’t google him, so researching him would prove useless.

Personally, I’m glad Anna and Cyrus’s team-up worked despite Heather’s chaotic interference. Heck, it probably worked because of Heather’s chaotic interference.

The Surreal Mob Life

Sonny (Maurice Benard) and my favorite of PC’s mobsters — Selina Wu (Lydia Look) — continued their shaky alliance. And, in the end, she was able to serve up one of her traitor henchmen to Sonny, who did what it took to get the goods. And he did get himself a doozy.

The tied-up thug reluctantly revealed that the man who eluded every mobster’s security teams goes by the name of Stone. I was pleasantly surprised by hearing the name that means so much to certain members of PC including Sonny. There’s Stone Cold Jason Morgan and Stone Cates (Michael Sutton). And it turned out that Sonny’s late son, Morgan (Bryan Craig) — his middle name was Stone. This kinda sorta felt like the equivalent of Batman and Superman both having a mom named Martha. And how significant this name became as a result. Okay, it’s a stretch, but I went with it anyway.

Sam and Liz’s Heart-to-Heart

Sam (Kelly Monaco) and Liz (Rebecca Herbst) ended up having a great conversation about raising teen boys. And, especially, raising two boys who both have Jason as a father. It’s clear Danny’s (Asher Antonyzyn) feeling the absence of his dad. I don’t know if he’s truly channeling Jason’s mannerisms and penchant for danger, but I did love Liz and Sam comparing notes.

But, even more, I adored how Sam took Danny to that famous PC bridge, and Danny was finally able to tell his mom what he was feeling. How he misses his dad and he’s a bit jealous of his friend whose military dad returned from overseas after being away for two years. I think Asher Antonyzyn is doing such a great job. And I hope when Jason gets back he’s able to spend time with his own kids. After all, they’re old enough to know when they’re being shafted in the dad department. Just saying.

Other GH Thoughts

Carly and Joss: Mom and daughter had a nice conversation about Dex (Evan Hofer) disappearing from Port Charles. As far as Joss (Eden McCoy) was concerned, she didn’t know if/when her boyfriend could ever return. So she’s going to do her best to track him down. And hate Sonny in the process. Anyway, Carly (Laura Wright) showed she understood the despair Joss was feeling, but at the same time, she tried to actually make her see that Sonny would never actually kill someone so close to Joss. Well, maybe he would for a second and then think better of it. Yeah, that’s it.

Curtis and Trina: Curtis (Donnell Turner) and Trina (Tabyana Ali) had their own nice conversation. Don’t get me wrong, I rather have Taggert (Réal Andrews) share this moment with his daughter. But that’s not how GH wrote it. They talked about grief and how sometimes they have to rely on family to get them through. According to Curtis, with his recent paralysis and shooting, he eventually came to appreciate his support system. “My family fixed me,” he said to Trina.

More PC Media Shenanigans: First, Drew (Cameron Mathison) gave Nina (Cynthia Watros) the ol’ heave ho out of Crimson and installed Carly in her place. Now Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) changed the masthead of another company. Apparently, since Nina didn’t take him up on his offer of funding her next magazine, he made a solo move. Guess it’s better to ask for forgiveness than to ask permission when it comes to Valentin.

While I rather have Shawn Butler (Sean Blakemore) in town and working alongside Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn), sometimes, with GH, we can never have nice things. So the next best scenario is Valentin buying The Invader from Shawn and then naming Nina as its new publisher.

And, again, while I rather have Alexis quit journalism and get back to lawyering, I’m excited to see Cynthia Watros and Nancy Lee Grahn in scenes together. Of course, Alexis freaked out right away and tried to find a way to uninstall Nina. I kept thinking, the woman just worked with Esme (Avery Kristen Pohl) and had no problem giving her a shot. Why can’t she do the same thing with Nina, a woman who actually has experience?

I’m happy Gregory (Gregory Harrison) used his dark world, mansplaining powers for good this time, trying to get Alexis to work with Nina on this gossip column idea.

Plus One Insanity: Tracy (Jane Elliot) tried to ask Gregory to be her plus one to Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn’s (Amanda Setton) wedding, but Gregory asked Alexis first. They are really pushing Tracy and Gregory right now, and I’m not feeling this supposed connection yet.

Carly and Drew: Another good conversation had to do with Carly and Drew. Well, Carly’s side of it anyways. She wants to put Nina in her rearview. And broody mcbrooderson Drew Cain wasn’t willing to let go of his vengeance and man pain just yet. I’m with Carly. Can everybody just go to their respective corners where they can all live their lives in peace?

Random Questions and Comments

• Bradford Anderson has a nice voice. Spinelli and Maxie (Kirsten Storms) getting closer and closer feels inevitable.
• When are Sasha (Sofia Mattsson) and Cody (Josh Kelly) going to move an inch closer with their friendship to something else?
• TJ (Tajh Bellow) and this latest Molly (Kristen Vaganos) are growing on me. TJ and Molly’s chemistry and connection is now in the cute stage. We’ll see if they ever move up from there.
• How are we already at 14 weeks in Kristina’s (Kate Mansi) surrogate pregnancy? Yikes. if she’s only now realizing how “real” this whole situation is, I can’t help but think that things are going to get way worse way before the baby is born.
• Ava (Maura West) and Sonny are inching closer and closer to sharing a moment, if you know what I mean. They’re bonding over all this betrayal and trauma and close quarters. And part of me wants to see it. And part of me wants them to cool it. What about your friends, Ava?

Also, Sonny had Diane serve divorce papers. Not much later, he removed his wedding ring. Can you talk to Nina first, mmmkay? Can you empathize and maybe channel your Nixon Falls self to maybe continue or end this relationship in a more decent way?

General Hospital 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 GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.