Soap Hub Performer Of The Week For GH: Alley Mills

The 1981 rap song ‘General Hospi-Tale’ needs to update the lyric about Heather Webber (Alley Mills) that goes ‘She’s not crazy. Uh, uh. No, never. She just wants to get Dr. Jeff Webber.’ Not only has Jeff long fallen off Heather’s radar, but based upon Mills’s recent tour de force we can assert that Heather is indeed certifiable.

Alley Mills: GH Performer of the Week

In a February sweeps week to remember, the Hook storyline, among others, came to a climax. Heather began the week callously sinking her non-lethal hook into Austin (Roger Howarth). She then joined partner-in-crime (and fellow killer) Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom) as he held Felicia and Ava captive at Wyndemere.

“Guilty as charged, your highness,” Heather scoffed at Felicia (Kristina Wagner), who labeled her as the serial killer known as the Hook. Mac’s wife wanted to know why she was killing people and Heather responded for the same reason that Mac is a cop. Felicia said but that’s so he can protect and serve. “Exactly! Same here,” Heather responded as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

This simple (but twisted) exchange sums up why Mills is so fascinating as Heather. To Heather, it’s the rest of the world that doesn’t understand the way things should work. Also, Mills never fails to add unpredictability and offbeat humor to every scene. “This sucker’s heavy,” Heather said referring to the pistol Ryan handed her. “I prefer the hook.”

We feared Heather would later kill Felicia and Ava (Maura West) with said gun but then, it only made sense that she wouldn’t. After all, they hadn’t done anything to harm Esme (Avery Kristen Pohl). Still, Heather didn’t give up control of her weapon after she told Felicia and Ava they were free to leave. There were two of them and one of them could have grabbed the hook as a weapon against Heather. (Lindstrom is not the only actor who taps into Joker-like warped logic to play psychotic characters.)

While Heather assured Ava that she wasn’t going to fire her gun on her and Felicia, she went ahead and loaded another kind of pistol. Heather told Ava that Ryan was responsible for all the disruption in her life that Esme caused. (Though you’d think Ryan having killed Kiki would have been enough of a reason for Ava to have gone gunning for the serial killer.)

While she was being officially arrested and read her rights, Heather nodded politely as if to indicate she’s got her Miranda rights memorized; in fact, she said that she’s heard them before a few times. Det. Bennett (Kendrick Cross) asked Heather if she understood what he told her. “Well, yeah,” she shrugged. “Didn’t I just say that?” Again, it’s Heather’s world — and everyone in it just doesn’t understand her.

One reason folks don’t follow Heather’s logic is that they’re too busy being afraid of what she’s going to do next. But Mills plays her character with clear direction — she wants to avenge her daughter, get away with it, and chow down on the occasional BLT sandwich at Kelly’s Diner.

We saw Heather handcuffed and in custody but that doesn’t take away opportunities for Alley Mills to keep her character fascinating. Viewers learned a while ago that she’s Esme’s mother but Laura (Genie Francis) asked her former aunt by marriage to confirm it to help close up this particular storyline climax.

“How could you miss it?” a grinning Heather rhetorically asked. “She’s got my smile.” Then, instead of continuing to flash her pearly whites, Mills made the choice to turn her look into pure meanness — as we’ve seen Esme do many, many times when she thought nobody else was looking. (Yep, that’s her smile.) Brilliant.

Alley Mills brought additional drama as the action-packed week continued. She quickly went into protective Mama Bear mode when Esme went into labor. There’s more to come next week as Heather comes face-to-face with Sasha (Sofia Mattsson), the widow of Brando (Johnny Wactor), one of her victims. We’re guessing that Heather being the Hook doesn’t mean that we’re never going to see her again. A lawyer (well — other than Hook survivor Diane Miller, we’re guessing) would argue Heather’s not in her right mind so we expect to see Alley Mills pop up again as story warrants.

Honorable Mentions: Several other GH cast members shined in these recent episodes. Among them were Brook Kerr (Portia), Maura West (Ava), Kristina Wagner (Felicia), and Jon Lindstrom (Ryan/Kevin). Bravo to all!

The best place for true soap fans to be is our Facebook groups. Have you joined? If you love soap spoilers, gossip, and fans as dedicated as yourself, check out Days of our Lives Fans, General Hospital Exclusive, The Young and the Restless Fans, and The Bold and the Beautiful Fans.