By 
Bye, Britch!
I remember moaning “Why?” at my screen a few good times while these scenes went down. This week I was forced to watch one of my favorite characters, Britt Westbourne, sail off from Port Charles in international criminal fashion – just like the biological father that accompanied her on the trip. Cesar Faison managed to escape thanks to a wild hostage situation at the PCPD. A masked assailant that we later learn is Jake or Jason Morgan takes Sam McCall hostage in order to bargain for the keys to Faison’s transport vehicle. In the shootout, Nathan West takes a bullet and Jake wins the prize of the car keys. Leaving a still stunned Sam behind, Jake drives off in the van with Faison and as usual, they send Dante Falconeri in pursuit and as usual, he loses the bad guy. What PCPD doesn’t know is that they’re headed for the docks where Britt and her mother Liesl Obrecht are preparing to set sail along with Faison, traveling the world as a family troupe of criminals. Helena Cassadine is the mastermind behind the big escape and she’s surprised to see that Obrecht will be bringing a plus one as she imagined it to be just her and her true love. Britt explains that she has to leave town to get away from Nikolas Cassadine, Helena’s grandson, and the charges he threatened to put on her for endangering Spencer Cassadine. Though Helena does admire the effort to which Britt put forth to get Nikolas back, she can’t agree with putting her great-grandson at risk as she’s very fond of him. When things get tense between Helena and Britt, Liesl reassures the matriarch that Spencer is just fine and coincidentally, he shows up just in time to prove that. He’s planning on running away from Nikolas because he dumped Britt, explaining that he’s no longer speaking to his father because of the bad things he said about Britt. He wants to move in with Britt and Brad Cooper but Britt has to break the news that she’ll be leaving Port Charles.
Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) shares a heartbreaking goodbye with Spencer as Helena (Constance Towers) watches on. Photo courtesy ABC.
Though he’s taken aback by this, Spencer still wants to run away so Helena objects. He snaps at his great-grandmother in that spoiled brat way that he’s mastered and he’s feeling pretty confident about it until Helena closes in, revealing herself as his relative and alluding to possibly being Medusa to scare him back into place. Spencer is still just a kid no matter how adult his mouth can be at times and he falls into line again. The women then convince Spencer that his place is with his father, not with Britt. But the goodbye isn’t without tears, Britt gets emotional stating that Nikolas came into her life for a reason – so she could come to love Spencer too. She gives him back the engagement ring she found, remembering that it was Spencer who picked it out and she wants him to give it to someone special when he’s old enough to. They hug again when Spencer makes Britt promise to come back again. When Spencer heads back home, the still masked Jake and Faison arrive at the docks. Helena takes Jake off to the side to reveal his face and orders him to forget ever holding up the PCPD and freeing Faison, sending him back to Elizabeth’s house with his brain wiped clean of all of those events. Back on the docks, Faison explains that Nathan took a shot during his escape which gets both of the women in his life riled up. Britt wants to stay behind but Liesl reminds her of the charges awaiting her, instead choosing to stay as she knows she has to help save her son’s life after not being a part of it for so long. Liesl reiterates those words to Britt when it’s time for her to leave with her father, apologizing for never being there as a mother (leaving out the blackmail and forced kidnappings and such) but assuring her that she does love her. Faison vows to take care of their daughter and thanks Liesl for always being on his side before the two of them sail off.
It always hurts when you lose a favorite character even on soap operas when said characters can return at the drop of a dime whether it is with a new face or not… Actually, that new face part might actually make it sting more. I do sincerely hope that Britt sticks to her word and does return to Port Charles, even for little guest stints while Kelly Thiebaud has downtime from her primetime adventures (which I’m positive she’ll do great with). Britt is one of the main reasons why I decided to stick with watching GH. I can still remember her with her long dark hair, limping on crutches and still successfully ruining goody two-shoes Sabrina Santiago’s day over and over again; it was heaven! I think she became an important character for a lot of people which was why the writers decided to build on her history, and what a history we got to uncover! Meeting her cunning mother (another favorite) and learning her true evil paternity all while The Britch softened with love for a man and his son, we really got to see all facets of her and I think Kelly played her fabulously every step of the way. Losing such a well-rounded character and talented actress stings, yes, but General Hospital is good at bouncing back with all their rapid fire storylines. I know I’ll always miss Britt but it’ll be easy to move on, they weren’t utilizing her to her full extent in the end anyway.
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