Soap Hub Performers of the Week for GH: Johnny Wactor, Sofia Mattsson

GH tasked relative soap opera newcomers Johnny Wactor and Sofia Mattsson with enacting arguably the most angst-ridden tale possible as their characters’ (Brando Corbin and Sasha Gilmore) newborn son faced a life-threatening medical crisis. For delivering such incredible performances, Soap Hub bestows Performer of the Week honors on both actors.

Johnny Wactor and Sofia Mattsson – Performers of the Week

Throughout this drama, Johnny Wactor has shown Brando warmly embracing his impending fatherhood as he’s doted on Sasha and exhibited the patience of a saint as he’s dealt with his irrepressible mother, Gladys Corbin (the always-entertaining Bonnie Burroughs). Now, he’s been assigned the challenge of taking his tough-guy persona and playing him with what the scenario calls for — an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

After Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) pushed Brando out of Sasha’s room so medical personnel could save her life, he went into shock. “We have a son and something went wrong and he didn’t cry and they took him away and Sasha passed out and Maxie, I might lose them both,” a stunned Brando shared with Maxie Jones (Kirsten Storms), speaking the line as one long run-on sentence as people sometimes do when they can’t fully grasp the devastating reality in front of them.

“When I saw his little head, it was like this rush came over me and it hit me like a tidal wave…just like, one glance at him and I loved him more than I thought it was possible to love anybody and I’d do anything for him,” Brando cried, barely getting the words out as he knew that his son might not make it.

Maxie succeeded in getting Brando to do the impossible — he let out a chuckle after the mother of three noted that there was always “diaper duty” if he felt he wasn’t pulling his own weight.  Brando never stopped thinking about this son but he also made sure to comfort Sasha, the mother of his child, asking her to wake up as their son needs his mom. (Get this guy on staff at GH — his words worked!)

Sasha was no sooner conscious than her own parental instincts went on display. She insisted on being taken to her son’s incubator so she could see him. “I will do whatever it takes to be with my son,” Sasha maintained. “If he can’t come to me, I will go to him!”

Sasha broke down as the doctor informed her of her son’s condition, dissected the medical jargon, adding that everything possible was being done to ensure the newborn’s survival. Next, Sasha, wanting desperately to make sense out of this surreal situation, blamed herself for the placenta separating from her uterus but the doctor explained that she was not to blame.

“I want to hold our son so badly,” Sasha tearfully shared with Brando noting how helpless she felt. “I want him to know that his mother is there for him. I want to protect him. I want to comfort him. That’s my job.”

“That’s our job,” clarified Brando, refusing to let Sasha feel alone for a single moment. Accepting that she was not well enough to be moved, Sasha told Brando that he would need to go be with their son. “The best thing you can do for me right now is to do what I can’t,” Sasha implored. “Go tell our son that I love him!” Brando complied, visiting his son in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) and told the newborn that he had a message from his mother — that she loves him.

GH wasted not a single moment in these episodes as every emotion was put on display, all the heartbeats were felt. (Kudos to the show’s cast for supporting Wactor and Mattsson in this drama.) Viewers have gone on this emotional journey with Brando and Sasha and have welcomed them into their hearts.

At press time, the fate of Brando and Sasha’s son is unknown. We suspect that Sofia Mattsson and Johnny Wactor will either be asked to play overwhelming joy or the deepest pain a parent can ever feel in some upcoming episodes. Based on their recent work, we’re confident the actors will have viewers feeling all the feels in either scenario.

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.