Soap Hub Performer of the Week for General Hospital: Jane Elliot

Tracy Quartermaine (Jane Elliot) has dealt with a lot since returning to Port Charles and General Hospital. While dealing with Luke’s death was highly emotional, Tracy also had to iron out that pesky matter of having framed her friend Alexis Davis for drunk driving when she wasn’t. For her performance as the indomitable Tracy, Soap Hub bestows Performer of the Week for GH honors on the Daytime Emmy-winning Elliot.

Jane Elliot – Performer of the Week

There’s an old saying about ‘not suffering fools gladly.’ In Tracy’s case, well, she doesn’t suffer anyone! The late Edward and Lila Quartermaine’s daughter was behind bars, facing considerable jail time for not only framing Alexis but for fleeing the country after her dirty deed was exposed. That might humble another person but not Tracy.

She may have been in jail but she didn’t give an inch as she demanded to be released. She had no gratitude to her son Ned Quartermaine (Wally Kurth) who posted his mom’s bail. “You want me to thank you? Look how long it took you!” Tracy scoffed. Upon being introduced to her attorney, Martin Gray (Michael E. Knight), Tracy mocked him calling him a ‘Kentucky Fried lawyer,’ a nod to Gray’s southern charm.

Tracy fired Martin but Ned pointed out to him that only he could fire him as he hired him. Tracy’s lightning-fast response to that was to fire Ned! ‘Et tu, Dante?’ Tracy rhetorically queried Dante Falconeri (Dominic Zamprogna) wondering why she didn’t have his support as Alexis had stabbed him. Nobody was safe from Tracy’s prickly barbs. She may have been the one behind bars but for some reason it felt as if everyone there to see her were the ones who were outnumbered.

Kudos must go to all of Jane Elliot’s scene partners in this episode including Knight as Martin described his client as ‘Leona Helmsley.’ Tracy said she was open to a ‘plea deal’ provided it did not include 1) jail time 2) probation 3) community service and 4) ‘even the most tacit admission of guilt.’ The list of demands was laughable to say the least, but Elliot’s Tracy sells the delivery in a way that makes us realize she’s serious!

Fortune – and Alexis – smiled on Tracy when Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) arrived to tell Tracy that the state would not be proceeding with its case against her as Alexis wasn’t going to cooperate. While Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) knows firsthand the challenges of incarceration, she told Ned that she chose not to side with the state against Tracy because of her feelings for the late Luke.

Always in control, Tracy hesitated to step out of her cell until she knew for sure a trick wasn’t being played her. Once she learned that she was indeed off the hook, Tracy made a silent exit not even bothering to thank Ned for bailing her out, Martin for representing her, Robert for not pursuing the case, and Alexis for giving Robert reason to drop the matter. Tracy hightailed it over to General Hospital to let Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) know that she knew Bailey is Louise, setting up what we can only hope is a future story for the dynamic Elliot, who can never make enough appearances in Port Charles as far as we’re concerned.

Honorable Mentions: Wes Ramsey’s Peter, like Tracy (Jane Elliot), may have been a guest of the state and under arrest but that didn’t stop him from making mincemeat out of Kristina Wagner’s Felicia when the protective mama bear confronted her granddaughter’s father, who was handcuffed to his hospital bed. Felicia read Peter the riot act for his many crimes, but Faison’s son took great delight in smugly calling Felicia ‘Princess’ and rubbing her face in the fact that she wasn’t around when both of her daughters – Maxie and the late Georgie – needed her the most. After Felicia exited the room, Peter angrily attempted to break out of his cuffs. We knew he wasn’t likely to break the chains but if fury could bend metal, Peter would have gotten free.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes. For more about what’s coming up in Port Charles, check out all the latest that’s been posted on GH spoilers, and for an in-depth look at the show’s history, click here.