Rating the Replacement: General Hospital’s Alexa Havins as the New Lulu

All My Children Alum Alexa Havins has only been appearing on General Hospital since November 18. Fortunately, that’s all we needed to see before making our decision. She is a great addition to GH. In fact, she checks all the boxes.

The New Lulu Spencer

Honestly, it’s hard to think about anyone else taking over for Julie Berman and Emme Rylan. If you watched Havins as Babe Carey on AMC, then you know that Lulu Spencer is a character right up her alley. She’s totally in her wheelhouse. She looks the part and sounds the part. And she has the presence to pull off the part.

Post-Coma

Lulu had been in a coma for four years. When she finally woke up, we’d have preferred that Lulu struggled longer to walk again. But we also don’t blame her for getting out of Dodge. Cyrus Renault (Jeff Kober) is creepy and can’t be trusted.

We believed Havins as Lulu got herself going and then got herself out of Turning Woods, stealing clothes, pulling the fire alarm, and finding her way out of the facility.

READ THIS: The inspired coincidence that happened before Lulu’s reunion with Lucky.

Escapee

Unimaginably, Lulu was able to walk long enough to hitchhike home. With Josh Kelly’s Cody, Lulu was mysterious, funny, scared, and determined to get home. Havins had an edge about her that signaled that she definitely grew up a Spencer….resourceful, cagey, and a little bit manipulative.

READ THIS: Alexa Havins talks about Lulu’s timeless struggle.

Reunions

Havins really excelled at the reunions. With each subsequent reconnection, she had us believing more and more that this was our Lulu. She had an appropriate reaction when she ran into Rocco (Finn Carr). It was heartbreaking when she couldn’t understand how her son had grown up because she had no idea she was in a coma for four years.

She had subsequent reunions with Lucky (Jonathan Jackson), Laura (Genie Francis), and Kevin (Jon Lindstrom). And those were just as amazing to watch as her reunion with Rocco. Havins instilled Lulu’s reaction to hearing about her father’s death with all the emotions required of a moment like that. Lulu learned a lot of information all at once, and her reactions were appropriate. Whose feelings wouldn’t be all over the place after waking up and hearing about deaths, disappearances, and status updates?

READ THIS: Here’s what you need to know about Alexa Havins.

Chemistry

This was one of the most important tests, and she passed. Havins had a great mother-daughter dynamic with Finn Carr’s Rocco. She instantly connected with Jonathan Jackson’s Lucky and Genie Francis’s Laura Collins. And we felt the chemistry between her and Dominic Zamprogna’s Dante. The jury is out on Havins’ Lulu and Josh Kelly’s Cody. We need to see more of that before passing judgment.

Yes, we’re happy that Havins decided to join GH. We absolutely believe that her version of Lulu is someone who could hold on to her mom for dear life one minute and then, the second, start putting her shoes on so she can search for her missing daughter Charlotte (Scarlett Fernandez). We can’t wait to see more, including Lulu’s reunion with Jane Elliot’s Tracy Quartermaine.