When it comes to dealing with Elizabeth Webber Baldwin’s grief over the death of her husband, Franco Baldwin, last March, General Hospital has pretty much never missed an opportunity to do absolutely nothing with it. So when the show finally got around to having her reunion with Franco’s best friend (and her ex), Drew Cain, it was a chance to right a wrong…but it fell completely flat.
General Hospital: Another Letdown For Liz
It’s not like the show doesn’t know how to write grief. They’re certainly trying with the death of little Liam and it’s a safe bet we’ll be shown a lot of grief on the parts of his parents over the next few weeks or even months. But Liz (the always wonderful Rebecca Herbst), who was done dirty often by the men in her life over the years, had finally found a man who put her and her kids first — and then he was ripped out of her life when he was murdered by Peter August (Wes Ramsey).
She got one, maybe two scenes about it, and those were probably more to promote the pain of whoever it was she was talking to was currently feeling. But here was another chance to go over what Franco’s (Roger Howarth) death did to her. What was Drew wanting to speak with her about? Jason Morgan’s (Steve Burton) death.
Yes, most of General Hospital is obsessed with the death of Jason, and yes, Liz has a connection since they share son Jake, but Franco was a much bigger presence in Jake’s life. To go on and on about what a hero HITMAN Jason was when he was off “saving” others rather than being a dad to Jake, it just felt so hollow…so forced. “Amazing legacy” Jason left Jake? Seriously, Liz? Or rather, seriously, writers? Again, he was a hitman! A mobster!
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But back to Drew and Liz. To equate losing Jason, who was nice to him for about 24 hours as they tried to fight Peter, with losing Franco, who ended up being abused in order to protect him — is borderline offensive. For this conversation to happen and we realize Drew learned about Franco’s death off-screen is definitely offensive. Where is the drama in that?!
So we get a conversation in which both parties know everything already and they’re just like…yeah, that’s sad…yeah, that must have been rough, oh geez, that’s too bad. What were the General Hospital writers thinking? We know they’re capable of giving us drama. Why didn’t Liz get to update Drew? The show loves to recap things on a daily basis that seems so obvious.
Heck, that was Alexis Davis’s (Nancy Lee Grahn) sole purpose of being in jail, it seemed. So why this time — when it could have been riveting — would they pass that opportunity by? It could have been so powerful to see Liz deal with Drew’s grief over losing his brother/best friend…and she could have mourned one more time, or at least in the eyes of many fans — for the first time. Will he ever be told about Franco getting his early memories downloaded into him and sleeping with Kim Nero (Tamara Braun)? If history is any indicator, he probably already knows.
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.
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