General Hospital’s Robin Scorpio Has Come Full Circle

Robin Scorpio is finally a married woman.  The girl without a future has come full circle.  We’ve seen Robin (as played by 2-time Emmy winner Kimberly McCullough) go from the 7-year old peanut butter and jelly loving child to a successful doctor in love and ready to marry the father of her child.  But did we always see this future for Robin?  She didn’t even see it.

Robin had given up on love after the breakup she had with mob enforcer Jason Morgan (played by Emmy winner Steve Burton).  She moved all the way to the City of Lights and remained for nearly 7 years without taking on as much as one-steady boyfriend.  Robin still held a torch for Jason:  the man who helped her fight her way out of her guilt, her grief over the loss of first love – Stone Cates (Michael Sutton) – the man who had given her HIV.  Her humdrum life got a crash course in romance when she hopped a train to Port Charles after Morgan’s then girlfriend, Samantha McCall, contacted Robin at an AIDS Awareness conference she was speaking at in New York City.  Jason had suffered brain trauma and Robin had saved his life, but Jason needed more than her drug protocol.  Enter Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson), neurosurgeon extraordinaire.

Robin and Patrick got off to a questionable start.  Robin found Patrick naked atop a nurse in an operating room.  Meeting like that was surely awkward but didn’t phase Robin.  She needed a miracle and Patrick Drake was it.  And thus, the famous back-and-forth bantering love-to-hate professional rapport commenced.  Patrick saved the day and Jason Morgan went back to being a mob enforcer.

Robin and Patrick’s relationship began in the hospital.  For 2 years they argued, patronized each other and just plain annoyed the hospital staff with their bantering.  But underneath all of the professional disagreements, lay a heated passion.  At first, Robin worried that Patrick’s live-for-the-thrill lifestyle was the real reason he wanted to be with her.  Having no-strings sex with an HIV positive woman?  That was the ultimate risk.  But it was so much more than the physical risk.  Patrick was risking his heart.  His playboy ways were about to come to a halt, because Robin Scorpio was about to do what no woman had done before.  Domesticate Patrick Drake.

Patrick fought it hard…as hard as he could. Robin wanted to have all of the things that she never thought she could have in life post-HIV diagnosis.  Everything Stone wanted her to have.  She was already a world-class research pathologist.  Now all she needed was her happy ending.  Robin decided she was ready to have a baby.  And she hoped Patrick was on board.  Turns out, saying “I love you,” was about as committed to Robin as Patrick wanted to get at the time.  He told her outright that he did not see her as the mother of his child, because he did not want kids.  Patrick was put off by the idea of you, me and baby makes three because his own father was barely there during his childhood, and he abandoned Patrick in the hour of his need when his mother died, to go get drunk and piss his life away.  Robin broke up with Patrick because his goals conflicted with her own.  She wanted to be a mother, and he wanted to focus on his career.

All that changed when Robin’s cousin, Georgie Jones (Lindze Letherman), was murdered by a crazed serial killer.  Robin turned to former flame, Patrick, for comfort in one of her darker hours.  That moment changed everything.  Emma Scorpio-Drake was conceived in that moment of grief.  It was a beautiful thing, life coming from death.  The news of Robin’s miracle pregnancy was a turning point in Robin and Patrick’s relationship.  Slowly, they made their way back to each other.  Patrick finally decided that he wanted to be a father, and that he was going to do a hell of a job at it.  Robin was reluctant at first, but eventually, she came to depend on Patrick and the two were back together! Stronger than ever.  Still, the two argued at every turn.  But they came to agree on one thing.  They should be married before Emma was born.  But Emma wasn’t having any of that.  On the day Robin & Patrick were meant to be married Emma stole the show:  Robin’s water broke on the altar and she had to be rushed to General Hospital.   After an initial health scare, both Robin and baby were discharged and ready to begin life as the Scorpio-Drake clan with Patrick as Super Dad.  But the happy ending still hadn’t happened.  So, Robin & Patrick decided to make it official.  A day after Christmas wedding would do the trick.

So now, here we are:  Robin Scorpio is going to the chapel! This time, she’s going to get married.  We’ve watched this girl grow up on our screens.  We felt for her through all her losses.  We cheered for her through all her successes. We supported her through the good and the bad (cottage hell, anyone?).   We’ve waited for this day since Robin was a little girl hiding gems in her china doll.  And now it’s here.  So is there any cause for complaint?  This fan says no way!  Few stories are carried out properly in soaps these days, and General Hospital is certainly no exception to the rule.  But Robin and Patrick’s wedding?  That is one event that I can check off my list as something done right.  With the exception of best friend Brenda Barrett missing-in-action as the Maid of Honor, Robin’s day has been flawless.  She’s got her something old:  Filomena’s necklace.  Her something new:  bouncing baby Emma.  Her something borrowed:  Tristan Rogers has reprised his role as Robin’s superspy dad, Robert Scorpio, for the occasion.  Her something blue:  cousin Maxie’s (Kirsten Storms) cautious baby blue eyes carefully watching out for what she sees could be pending disaster out to ruin Robin’s big day.  But there’s nothing to ruin Robin & Patrick’s wedding.  Not even a few mentions or flashbacks of Robin’s first love, Stone Cates.

While some fans may be up in arms over a few flashbacks to the past, others applaud the show’s effort to use this opportunity as a means to celebrate the life of Robin Scorpio.  Yes, its Patrick’s wedding, too.  But everyone knows that a wedding is all about the bride! We’ve watched Robin grow up on this show.  We watched Robin lose her parents.  We watched her fall in love for the first time.  We admired her dignity and grace as she chose to tell Stone that she was HIV+ as he was dying of AIDS right in front of her.  We watched her pick herself up after her Romeo died and she had to go on living as a Juliet without a dagger.  We watched her give her heart away again only to have it trampled on by Jason’s lifestyle choices and the ease with which he let Carly manipulate him.  We watched Robin decide to get on the drug protocol that has kept her alive to this day. We’ve rooted for her every step of the way, for the better part of 23 years.  And now we are able to see Robin Scorpio come full circle.  It’s a truly beautiful thing. With the help of flashbacks, we’ve seen Robin through Mac’s eyes, through Robert & Anna’s eyes and through her own eyes.  She truly has come a long way from the girl who thought she was condemned to death.

Robin has always held to the mantra “HIV is not a death sentence,” and for her, it truly isn’t.  She has overcome so much in the face of adversity.  She has stared archrival Carly Corinthos in the face when Carly spewed her hate at her saying “You were afraid I was going to have the family that you couldn’t have with Jason because you’re H.I.V.-positive.”  Well now Robin does have that family she was not supposed to have. Robin is so much more than your everyday soap heroine.  She could have gone the road of tragic heroine.  Sure, Robin was grief-stricken with GH’s own Romeo & Juliet love story ended with Stone’s death.  But Robin persevered.  She picked herself up and found love twice more.  She found the courage to be a role model. She has accomplished more than ever imaginable.  She attended Yale, the Sorbonne in Paris, became a world-class research pathologist, and now has love again with a new husband and baby to boot.  But most important of all, Robin is a survivor.  She has everything she ever wanted.  Everything Stone always wanted for her.  Robin Scorpio has come full circle, and there is no cause for complaint.

It’s time to celebrate! For someone who had learned to embrace never, Robin Scorpio-Drake IS having her cake and eating it too!