Sonny’s General Hospital Comeuppance: Becoming Julian (Or Charley)

It’s hard to deny that during Julian’s last days on General Hospital, Sonny hunted him to the end –with a little help from Cyrus’s goons — and that end led to the end of Sonny, as well. Or at least Sonny as we know him.

Sonny Becomes Julian on General Hospital

Now, Sonny (Maurice Benard) is suffering from the oldest soap trope in the book — amnesia. He’s now a wanderer, taken in by a good Samaritan (in this case Nina’s former nurse — the one who gave Nelle away — Phyllis) and ready to live a different kind of life. However, that life seems to be Julian Jerome’s (William deVry).

Before that bridge broke, Sam (Kelly Monaco) and Carly (Laura Wright) had been trying to come to terms with the lives they chose to live once again — a life married to the mob. Sam’s talk with her son forced her to make the choice to break things off with Jason. But Carly’s talk with Joss (Eden McCoy) just made her stand firm that this was the life for her, no matter the danger to her kids. (One who is already allegedly dead.)

So, Port Charles mob life needed a reckoning and it got one on that bridge in Seacaucus. Both mobsters went into a river, except Julian seemed to go in with two gunshot wounds so he didn’t come out alive. Somehow, of course, Sonny did. But again, he thinks his name is Mike due to the inscription on his watch and now he’s taking a job as a bartender, living above a bar, and even dressing in Julian’s “Charley” look. Amazing.

If we recall, Julian once went off a bridge, but he then spent some time in jail. After being released, he bought a bar called “Charley’s” moved in above it, and even started wearing nothing but jeans and plaid shirts — a Target look that’s a far cry from his Manhattan mobster look. He tried the straight and narrow, but Julian’s inner mobster was still there.

It was one thing when Phyllis (Juliette Jeffers) gave Sonny the plaid shirt left in the clinic where she found him. But then she brought him into the bar (which honestly looks like the old Floating Rib set) her husband owns and a robber walked right in. Sonny’s inner mobster broke free and that robber never knew what hit him. Then, she gave him a job, a room over the bar, AND…a plaid shirt. When Sonny returned from the room after changing all Soap Hub could think was, “Whoa! Sonny’s Julian now. This had to be on purpose, right?”

Well, GH, if this wasn’t on purpose, we love this accidental brilliance as Sonny learns to come to terms with who he is — just as Julian had to when he lived above a bar, donned his plaid, and served up some drinks. We can’t wait to see what happens next. General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.