General Hospital Character Recap: Liesl Obrecht

Liesl Obrecht – misunderstood misanthrope or heartless villainess hell-bent on world domination? Perhaps it’s a little bit of both. This lady defies true explanation.

Who Is Liesl Obrecht?

Once a brilliant physician, Liesl was stripped of her license to practice medicine after the governing board realized that she had been conducting unsanctioned experiments on human test subjects.

Instead, she found her skills in much demand from career criminal Cesar Faison, with whom she formed a partnership – that also extended into the bedroom. Together they had two children, but Liesl hid her initial pregnancy and gave the resulting baby boy to her sister Magda.

Crime Spree
Having been installed as director-cum-prison warden of a medical clinic that served as Faison’s overseas headquarters, Liesl was charged with keeping an eye on hostage Robin Scorpio Drake and impeding any investigation into her whereabouts.

When news reached her that Faison had been captured – and his masquerading of Duke Lavery, another clinic-bound “patient,”‘ uncovered – Liesl drugged Robin and handed her over to accomplice Jerry Jacks.

In time, Liesl made her way to Port Charles where she schemed with her second born, Dr. Britt Westbourne, to entrap Patrick Drake with a pregnancy. She also tried to rid herself of perceived love rival Anna Devane – though she only managed to poison Duke.

In quick succession, an increasingly desperate Liesl kidnapped Britt’s newborn, left him with Robin – who was hidden away on Spoon Island – sprung Faison from prison using a mask that gave her Anna’s countenance and blackmailed her way to freedom with the threat of revealing to the world that her “grandson” was, biologically, Lulu and Dante’s.

Despite her instillation as General Hospital’s Chief of Staff – courtesy of old flame Victor Cassadine – Liesl continued her violent machinations. She again kidnapped “Britt’s” baby and this time she shot and severely injured hostage Elizabeth Webber.

Liesl’s Wicked Ways Continue 
While imprisoned at Pentonville, Liesl was reunited with Magda, now going by the name Madeline Reeves, and realized that police officer Nathan West was the son that she had handed over all those years ago.

Blackmail again earned Liesl her freedom but she continued to find herself at the center of trouble and controversy. A white lie to Victor about Nathan being his son resulted in Liesl shooting and killing the Cassadine baddie when the truth came out. After being stripped of her job at the hospital, she became a person of interest when patients began to meet sticky ends.

Nathan’s accidental death at the hands of Faison resulted in Liesl kidnapping and torturing the man that she held responsible for her troubles – Nathan’s half brother, Peter August AKA Henrik – and her subsequent imprisonment for the crime and escape led Liesl to become a part of Nelle and Brad’s switched baby caper.

Further issues arose when Liesl acquiesced to Valentin’s request that she keep mum about his hiring Sasha Gilmore to pose as Nina Reeves’s long-missing daughter. When the truth was outed, Liesl nearly lost her niece’s love but they managed to make up.

But how Nina and indeed the rest of the canvas will react to the part Liesl played in helping Nelle and Brad remains to be seen. General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.