GH’s Carly Spencer and Josslyn Jacks Are Terrible People But Great Soap Characters

Carly Spencer and Josslyn Jacks are two peas in a pod on General Hospital. If there was ever a mother-daughter team that acts more alike on soaps, then we have yet to see it, and this writer has been watching soaps since the 1970s.

GH: Carly Spencer Has Never Been A Good Person

Since 1997, GH fans have known how selfish and vindictive Carly (Laura Wright) could be. Heck, she arrived in town (then played by Sarah Joy Brown) with a chip on her shoulder because a teenage Bobbie Spencer (Jacklyn Zeman) gave her up for adoption to a mother who loved her. That was enough for Carly to want to ruin Bobbie’s life and seduce her husband, something she succeeded in doing. Yes, she and Bobbie have reconciled and grown close over the years, but Carly proved who she was right from the very start.

Unlike other soap characters who arrive on the scene young and angry, Carly has stayed angry and still acts extremely immaturely. She has spent decades playing God with everyone’s lives, sticks her nose and big mouth where they don’t belong, and never, ever admits she is wrong about anything. She thinks she knows what is right for everyone, hurts people, has no patience, and then stands on her high horse, lecturing others about what they have done wrong.

We could write countless articles on all the horrible things Carly has done for the last quarter century, but we can also just focus on the last two years. Yes, it was Carly who decided that Nina (Cynthia Watros) had no right to know her daughter was Nelle (Chloe Lanier) because it might inconvenience Carly if Nina ever learned that Carly did indeed hesitate at the top of that cliff the night Nelle allegedly died. It was Carly who couldn’t shut up and decided to lecture Nina when she called to inform her that Sonny (Maurice Benard) was still alive. While Nina then keeping the secret about Sonny was wrong, let us never forget who started all this.

The fact that Carly decided to keep another daughter from Nina and hasn’t even had to pay any consequences is just how Carly’s life goes and one reason she might think she is right about everything.

Carly’s Daughter Josslyn Is No Better

For a while, we thought Josslyn (Eden McCoy) only inherited Carly’s tough side, but it turns out, she inherited her mother’s complete lack of self-awareness and inability to take the blame for anything. She has a chip on her shoulder for no real reason considering the privilege she grew up in, and doesn’t seem to care who she hurts — ever.

Joss’s selfish side has slipped out various times over the years, but over the last few months, it feels like it is all we have seen. There is nothing wrong with Joss falling for Dex (Evan Hofer) and realizing that things were never going to work out with Cameron (William Lipton). They were young, and having your first time together blasted onto the Internet could ruin anyone’s relationship. She rightly felt violated, and we could see how her feelings for Cam would shift.

However, she should have told him that rather than string him along for months when she was also seeing Dex on the side. Sure, her guilty conscience kicked in AFTER she slept with Dex and got a text from Cam, prompting her to break up with him, but she still left out the Dex part when she did it. Cam had to learn about Dex and Joss by catching them together in her dorm room, and she had the nerve to beg Cam to keep quiet about it and then threaten him when he hinted that he wouldn’t.

Never mind the fact that Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) died because she was too foolish to have Sonny’s bodyguard with her on New Year’s Eve when a serial killer was after her and then she couldn’t find the time to attend Britt’s funeral, she also had to make Willow’s (Katelyn MacMullen) cancer all about her. We have barely seen Willow and Josslyn spend time together, but we are supposed to believe that Josslyn was so distraught after learning she had cancer that she couldn’t think of anything else — except her own self, of course.

Even the way she has always treated Trina reeks of entitlement. She tries to speak for Trina (Tabyyan Ali), a young woman who can definitely speak for herself, and she wants whatever Trina has. None of it is a good look, Josslyn, but Josslyn doesn’t care and is unaware.

Carly Spencer And Joss Are Soap Archetypes

Despite the fact that these two women are just awful people, Carly and Josslyn are also what soaps need. They are characters that keep us tuning in, if only to be outraged by the next awful and nasty thing they say and do. We may not like their actions and are completely exasperated by them, but that is also thanks to the amazing talents of Laura Wright and Eden McCoy.

Some soap characters are just completely hateful and boring, and we want them to go, but Carly Spencer and her mini-me daughter are never, ever dull and have a place in Port Charles. We are aware that many fans do not see them as horrible people, but they really do horrible things all the time. Accepting that and still enjoying them is perfectly okay because every soap needs a Carly and a Joss, two selfish beings that drive story with their poor choices and who will do so for years to come.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.

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