General Hospital has handed Daytime Emmy winning actress Genie Francis and her character Laura Webber Collins the challenging task of shining a light on the possibility that serial killer Heather Webber may not be responsible for many of her actions. The controversial storyline has created drama on-screen as evidenced by this week’s episodes.
Hip Check
Soaps have come up with creative ways to get characters out of legal jams over the years. When Heather, played by Alley Mills, was hospitalized, she made reference to a hip replacement, introducing the idea that her time as the infamous Hook killer, may have been caused by cobalt poisoning from her surgery.
Characters more directly affected, naturally, don’t give a hoot whether it was Heather’s clear-minded (or as clear-minded as she can be) decision to commit these acts or whether it was poisoning or mind-control from Helena (Constance Towers) or something else! Portia (Brook Kerr) is adamant that Heather remains behind bars and she’s a doctor!
Laura fully understands the emotions behind Portia and everyone else’s belief that Heather is a danger. But as she gently attempted to point out, the law is for everyone. If you had a loved one who wasn’t responsible for their actions wouldn’t you want that brought to light?
“My goal is to see that justice is served,” Laura compassionately but firmly argued to Portia, “if new evidence comes to light after a conviction, the guilty party has the right to have their case re-examined.”
Portia shot back that Heather and Laura are related, pointing out a conflict of interest and that victims have a right to ask questions.
There may have been a Fourth of July celebration going on outside, but the real fireworks continued inside the Quartermaine mansion where Laura and Portia each stood their ground. Laura focused on the law. Portia was playing protective mom as her daughter Trina (Tabyana Ali) was in Heather’s sights.
“I am not indifferent to Heather’s crimes,” Laura Webber Collins stated. Portia countered with passion: “Heather already pled guilty. I’m not okay with some sort of ‘friends and family discounted sentence!'”
Portia argued that a free Heather might commit more crimes. Laura replied: “We don’t know that.” One social media follower says that Trina would go berserk if Heather did the worst to her daughter.
While that’s very true, Laura, a mother herself, could not deny Portia’s position. “You’re going to admit you’re wrong after the fact?” said Portia, posing a worst-case scenario. “I will not stand for this!”
Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst) threw both insight and perspective into the conflict. She pointed out to Laura that while she could see past the late Franco’s (Roger Howarth) crimes his victims, arguably, could not.
We can see in Laura’s eyes that this is not a clearcut case of right and wrong — if indeed Heather wasn’t in her right state of mind, the story isn’t over. But can we really forgive the woman who took Britt (Kelly Thiebaud), our beloved “Britch”, and good guy Rory (Michael Blake Kruse) from us?
Why did GH put Laura as Heather’s advocate? While technically, Heather is — or was — Laura’s aunt courtesy of her marriage to Dr. Jeff Webber (then, Richard Dean Anderson), the half-brother of Laura’s late adoptive father, Dr. Rick Webber (Chris Robinson), we don’t exactly recall them being particularly close back in the day.
But there’s more to it than that. If GH wants to keep Heather around, who better than to make her Mayor Laura Webber Collins her ally? She and Francis are the heart and soul of GH. If Laura is going to give someone a chance, then maybe the audience will, too?
There’s history between Laura and Heather but not a lot of screentime. The two characters were busy in their own storylines back in the day — Laura battling Bobbie (Jacklyn Zeman) for Scotty’s (Kin Shriner) love while Heather was busy scheming to keep secret that she had sold her son, Steven Lars!
Mills is a talented find who stepped into the role of Heather after she’d been played by three other actresses (most notably, Robin Mattson). She won a Daytime Emmy for her portrayal of Heather and it’s clear that the show is exploring ways to keep her on the canvas.
Perhaps Laura’s next move would be to consult a lawyer to fully understand what could happen next. Might we suggest she have a powwow with Scotty, her attorney ex-husband? He’s known her for a long time and Scotty has a history with Heather, too. He might have some added insight into this ongoing story!
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