Soap Hub Performer of the Week for General Hospital: Maura West

Ava Jerome Cassadine felt like she got the rug pulled out from under her this week in a myriad of ways. After learning that her beloved Trina Robinson was accused of an ugly revenge porn crime she knows the young girl didn’t commit, she arrived home exhausted and exasperated after Trina’s arraignment to find the person who really did the deed sitting in her living room like she owned the place. And she wasn’t going anywhere. For her performance as a furious, determined, and emotionally wounded Ava, Soap Hub names Maura West as our General Hospital Performer of the Week.

Maura West-Performer of the Week

Ava immediately told Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl) to please leave and when Esme refused she ripped the book the girl was reading right out of her hand without even glancing at the title and flung it off like it was nothing but a nuisance just like Esme. If Ava had bothered to notice that the book title was What to Expect When You’re Expecting she may have not been so shocked to learn that her husband, Nikolas Cassadine (Marcus Coloma), wanted to take care of Esme because she might be pregnant. He also warned her that Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Benard) was after Esme so it was imperative she stay with them. Ava quickly told her husband she was the one who asked Sonny to take care of the little Esme problem.

As Nikolas and Ava squabbled over whether Esme got to stay at Wyndemere or not, West had us howling as she delivered verbal blow after verbal blow about Spencer’s maybe-girlfriend, calling her a “reptile” as well as an “off-brand sociopath.” Ava didn’t hold back anything when she went after the girl who set up “MY Trina,” as she passionately referred to the young woman she has taken under her wing. While West showed us Ava’s fury with her own special brand of fire, we also got to see her vulnerability.

Ava was so sure of herself when she told Nikolas either Esme goes or she goes. You could read her mind and see the confidence in her eyes as she felt there was no way Nikolas would choose that girl over her when he didn’t even choose his son over her. When Nikolas chose Esme, the stunned look on Ava’s face said it all — pure shock and horror, as well as a wounded heart. Was she that unimportant to Nikolas when they had even been planning a vow renewal?

However, in true Ava style, by the next morning, she got her groove back and wasted no time planning her next move. She was already meeting with Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner) at Charlie’s to see what she could get out of a divorce and then decided Nikolas and Esme — especially Esme — weren’t going to win. She was entitled to live at Wyndemere so she waltzed back into that castle as if she was coming in from a fun day shopping and announced she is staying, she just wouldn’t be staying in Nikolas’ bed.

From exasperation and fury to a wounded heart and a burst of confidence fit for the wife of a prince, Maura West showed us a woman who would not be wronged — especially when she was the one who was right.

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.