We didn’t get Nelle Benson back from the dead last week but we got the next best thing when General Hospital invited Chloe Lanier, Nelle’s portrayer, back to the show as a figment of Nina Reeves’s imagination. Soap Hub is bestowing Performer of the Week honors for GH to Lanier for stepping back into Nelle’s pumps with such ease as she easily recreated the troublemaker’s wicked tone.
Chloe Lanier – Performer of the Week
Nina (Cynthia Watros) went to visit Nelle’s grave on the anniversary of her death. She was clearly in an emotional state and that’s why she conjured up an apparition of her late daughter. This resulted in both Lanier and Watros delivering their very best having been given a solid setup.
“Normally, I’m not a fan of being forgotten,” Lanier’s Nelle quipped, showing right away that she hadn’t lost her trademark edge. Nina explained to Nelle that she was upset at Carly Corinthos (Laura Wright) for letting her fall off that cliff and never sharing that she was Nelle’s mother.
It didn’t take long for Lanier to remind us that Nelle really doesn’t care about anyone or anybody other than herself. When Nina pointed out that Wiley, Nelle’s son, was hurt by Nina’s actions, Nelle shrugged, ‘Eh, he’s a baby. He’ll never remember any of it anyway.’ Oh, Nelle, we’ve missed you and your blatant disregard for humanity.
One reason Chloe Lanier had such a successful run as Nelle was that the character never hesitated to point out the hypocrisy of others. Nina noted that Carly, Michael Corinthos (Chad Duell), and Willow Tait (Katelyn MacMullen) may tell Wiley Quartermaine-Corinthos (Viron Weaver) things about her and Nelle, but Nelle just casually dismissed the potential fallout. She said that that would be on them — not her and Nina.
Nelle is nothing if not pragmatic. She agreed with Nina that had she raised her Nelle would have had a much different life. While Watros’s Nina tearfully reveled in such a pleasant fantasy, Nelle, of course, took things a bit darker. “Together, we really could have made Michael and Carly suffer,” Nelle lamented. “We really could have done a lot of damage.”
Never think that Nelle being seemingly friendly with someone means that person is safe from her wrath. Just when Nina thought she was reaching Nelle, the imaginary spitfire turned on her mother, blasting her for not supporting her when she was alive even though they didn’t know they were related at the time.
Chloe Lanier hasn’t played Nelle for a while now, but the dynamic actress reprised Nelle as if she’d never left the role. Here’s hoping that GH is soon able to lure Lanier back to the canvas for more appearances soon. We’d even like to see her back as a full-time cast member. We humbly recommend both Lanier and Watros keep this episode in mind when the date rolls around for next year’s Daytime Emmy submissions.
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.
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