It always comes back to the same thing for General Hospital’s Carly. Everyone warns her about the men she gets involved with, and she usually gets an “I told you so.” Most recently, her friends and family cautioned her about her involvement with Jack for a variety of reasons, including his dangerous spy lifestyle. While she ignored the naysayers, no one can doubt that she was poisoned with polonium while hanging out with him. Jack’s portrayer, Chris McKenna, opened up about how Jack is always in danger, including from losing his heart.
He Can Compartmentalize His Emotions
McKenna had a conversation with Soap Opera Digest and discussed how Jack has been dealing not only with romance but almost losing Carly (Laura Wright). As we’re seeing with Josslyn’s (Eden McCoy) WSB training, her handler Vaughn (Bryce Durfee) told her that spies must learn how to compartmentalize their emotions. That fact is one that McKenna adheres to, explaining that Jack “Knows how to harden himself. He knows how to go cold.”
That reflex, he explained, is how Jack gets through life without having his actions weigh on him. “This guy’s had to torture people for information and kill people who are begging for their lives, and when his heart’s broken, he knows how to put on the armor and to keep soldiering on, as painful as it is,” he stated. When Carly almost put the brakes on their relationship, Jack looked sad but got through it. And now, after they consummated it, he almost had to harden his heart once more when she faced death.
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He Revealed Another Side of Jack
McKenna further explained that he likes to portray his spy character as realistically as possible and is always ready to face danger. “When this happens, it goes from the afterglow, from the happiest he’s been maybe ever, but certainly in a long time, to immediately, his whole world is rocked,” he stated. Thankfully, the WSB lab was able to synthesize the antidote for polonium poisoning, and Carly was saved.
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When Jack took Carly to the hospital, he started ordering his agents to find the cure. The actor found a great deal of fun in the tension. “And for Jack, the stakes couldn’t be any higher.” McKenna further noted that as Jack sat by Carly’s bedside, he revealed to her (and the audience) a facet of him that had yet to be seen — his worry and sadness, which he truly enjoyed portraying.
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