Thank The Soap Gods For Maura West…And Ava

This may be an unpopular opinion in some fan circles, but Soap Hub could have sat down for hours upon hours yesterday and watched Ava Jerome’s psyche leak out all over Port Charles. It was a General Hospital tour de force with a performance that illustrated just why Maura West has those Emmys on her mantle. She. Is. Sublime.

Back in the mid-90s when West first created the role of Carly Tenney on As the World Turns, we knew daytime had found gold in a young actress fresh to the daytime scene.

When GH snatched her up in 2013, it was the best move it could have made. ATWT had been cancelled, West’s run as Diane on The Young and the Restless was over, and a new mob heiress was coming to Port Charles. And, she was a Jerome with absolutely nothing on her not-so-dead (it turns out) sister, Olivia.

Olivia was just deranged while Ava has depth. Sure, she’s done the nastiest things and never pays the legal price, and there is no excuse for what she’s done. However, excuses and reasons are two different things. And conscience is something else entirely. Ava has one–she just doesn’t know what to do with it when it creeps up and how to use it right.

There can never be any doubt that Ava loves Avery, and yes, Kiki.

Sure, she slept with Kiki’s boyfriend on more than one occasion, and then switched his bipolar meds, which led to his breakdown and death. But, she didn’t MEAN for him to die.

She did mean for Connie to die, and that’s a problem. But, how many people did Sonny kill with full intent? And her brother, Julian.

It’s not like Carly didn’t dump a drunk AJ in a dumpster, and years later Sonny shot him dead. Ava told it like it is yesterday–much of Port Charles’ population has done as bad–if not worse–things than her, but Ava is the one with the bum wrap–always.

We’ve seen some social media comments ask why Ava got an entire show to herself and we just say–why not? We could have watched Maura West and Ava go off on anyone and everyone who has ever done something wholly rotten in Port Charles for weeks. And it would have taken that long to do it.

So, long live Ava–and Maura West–for being the one to bring truth to the surface of PC with every line uttered in a performance for the ages.

General Hospital (GH) airs weekdays on ABC. Check your local listings for airtimes.