On the GH Couch: Why Pentonville Broke Drew Cain

Drew Cain is confusing viewers on General Hospital. The Navy Seal we originally met survived a rough childhood, amnesia, a new face, a long-lost twin, and two years of torture as Victor Cassadine’s prisoner only to emerge as sunny and peppy as an enthusiastic puppy, ready to do whatever he needed to make his beloved Carly happy.

On the Couch: Drew Cain

Then, Drew (Cameron Mathison) volunteered to go to prison — to make his beloved Carly (Laura Wright) happy, natch — and after only three months in Pentonville, where Cyrus was mean to him, and Drew got a boo-boo, he is now traumatized, shaky, shell of a man. (Check out our celebration of Drew here.) Now, we’re not dismissing the damage Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can do. But we are plopping Drew on the therapist’s couch to get to the bottom of why this imprisonment affected him so much more than all the previous ones did.

Easy Joke

Sure, we could say that it was his time with Carly that broke Drew in a way other torture couldn’t. But that wouldn’t be fair. She may be shocked to hear this, but Drew’s trauma isn’t about Carly. She, in fact, had nothing to do with how he feels. Carly only has something to do with his being sent to prison in the first place.

The Home of the Free and the Brave

Drew was able to survive Victor (Charles Shaughnessy) keeping him locked up because Drew could tell himself that as long as he did what Victor said — and the world thought he was dead — then his loved ones, namely daughter Scout, her mother, Sam (Kelly Monaco), and his beloved nephew, Danny, not to mention stepmom Monica (Leslie Charleson) were safe.

Local News

But that wasn’t the case this time around. This time around, Drew’s loved ones — with the addition of Carly and her children — could easily be targeted by Cyrus (Jeff Kober) at any time. It wasn’t worrying about himself that led to Drew crumbling in prison, it was worrying about others. Because that’s the kind of guy he is.

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

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