Ava Jerome Cassadine, played by three-time Daytime Emmy-winner Maura West, once again had to come face to face with Ryan Chamberlin, the man, who killed her daughter. The General Hospital star shined as a woman intent on never letting Ryan get the better of her again, earning Soap Hub’s Performer of the Week honors for GH in the process.
Maura West – Performer of the Week
Ava not only willingly but gladly accepted the invitation from Kevin Collins (Jon Lindstrom) and Mac Scorpio (John J. York) to confront Ryan (also played by Lindstrom) in order to track down evil Esme Prince (Avery Kristen Pohl). Motivated to help surrogate daughter Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali), Ava accepted Kevin and Mac’s invitation to play bait and went with them to Spring Ridge, the prison facility where Ryan is currently residing.
Rather than cower in front of Ryan or let him know just how much he hurt her by murdering her beloved Kiki (Hayley Erin), a sultry and sophisticated Ava showed up in command, ready to play a few mind games of her own with the supposedly incapacitated Ryan.
When Ryan’s aide explained to Ava that one blink from him meant yes and two indicated no, Ava quipped, “I’m familiar,” hinting she was also aware of Ryan’s penchant for trying to manipulate people. The aide tried to share what Ryan was communicating but Ava cut him off, showing she was in charge in the process. “Oh, I don’t care what he’s blinking. I’ll do the talking,” Ava snarked.
“Oh, he understands all right…he’s just toying with me,” Ava offered after the aide tried to explain why Ryan wasn’t responding to her. Ryan may have her and everyone else fooled that he is mostly immobile but that’s all he’s got on Ava. She knows that Ryan not only understands her but she’s getting under his skin, too.
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Watching Ava try to coerce Ryan was like watching a verbal (well, non-verbal on Ryan’s part) chess match. Each move is carefully calculated. The episode’s director keenly kept the two characters mostly in close-up. So much of West’s performance was done with her eyes. We saw Ava realize when she was making progress with Ryan and when she was stymied.
Later at the Savoy, Ava reconnected with hubby Nikolas Cassadine (Marcus Coloma) and also shared great compassion for pal Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud), who lamented being partner-less and never really having had a birthday party. Maura West never fails to remind viewers that Ava is a complex character, a woman who is capable of great loyalty and should also never, ever be crossed. Brava!
General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. For an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.
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