General Hospital Genius: Giving Mayor Laura Brothers

For decades, when you thought of General Hospital, you thought of Luke and Laura. Now, when you think of General Hospital, you think of Laura. (Yes, we know what we did there with the Christopher Cross song.) Genie Francis has shown us Laura can most certainly stand on her own as a character without Luke and now she is a character who has been given quite the fascinating expanded family.

A General Hospital Story To Watch

While it was obvious that Cyrus had some tie to Laura, we’re still not sure if making him her long-lost half brother was the original plan. We’re also pretty sure when Martin Grey arrived in town the soap wasn’t planning on giving him ties to anyone, but what an inspired move to take his last name and dig way back into Laura’s beginnings — literally.

It was nearly 50 years ago when GH fans learned Dr. Lesley Williams had a child with her medical school professor Dr. Gordon Grey. Lesley believed the child died at birth but eventually we learned that child was our Laura, who grew up to be the heart of Port Charles — and even its mayor.

We rarely see a soap go that far back into the storyline archives, but Friday’s performance by all three actors involved tells us this is going to be good. First, we can’t thank GH enough for finding a character for the incomparable Michael E. Knight, to begin with. To make him Laura’s brother and give him a storyline with Genie Francis is everything an ABC soap fan could have asked for and more.

Second, we are quite relieved Cyrus never turned out to be a stalker obsessed with Laura with a short character life expectancy. Instead, we now have hopes of seeing Jeff Kober around much longer and playing Laura’s brother. A brother responsible for her daughter slipping into a coma she may never come out of.

Ending the soap year on this note is a highlight of 2020 we never expected, especially with soaps gone for so many months, but it makes us look forward to quite an entertaining 2021. General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.