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General Hospital took a delightfully evil turn last week. Though the week before’s anticlimatic return was further dulled down with another switcheroo, there was more than enough mystery in the return of major evil doers to Port Charles. But how much mystery is too much mystery? And just how long can twists and turns in stories stay exciting before they become a pain? Port Charles had me scratching my head with a lot of these questions this week! Check it out!
General Hospital Recap | Episodes airing December 1-5, 2014
Franco and Nina form an unstable family unit
Franco and Nina Clay are still holed up in a cabin in Canada, caring for Ava Jerome’s apparent alien baby that can grow months in just a few weeks! Nina is enjoying what she thinks is motherhood to the fullest but Franco thinks she should give the baby up, anonymously drop her off at a local fire station so they can start their lives over without that tie to Port Charles. Nina doesn’t take to the idea at all. In fact she thinks it stinks! This makes something click in poor Nina’s head that Franco might be against her and that she’ll have to continue this plan all on her own. She threatens him, angrily packing her things until he tries to calm her down by reminding her that they have to stick together, that survival on her own would be almost impossible with a mob boss’ goons on the prowl. Nina accepts the sad reality with a moment of silence, only perking up again when Franco cares for the baby girl. both unstable friends complimenting one another on their natural parenting skills… all while this weeks old baby can hold the bottle for herself! What is in that milk?!
We flash over to a hotel room in NYC and see Silas Clay, fresh from the shower (and clothed, thank God), who cannot seem to place his phone. Ava Jerome enters the hotel room in that usual guilty-manic way of hers that should tip off anyone to her misdeeds. She claims she was only out following a lead, checking in with Franco’s former agent friend to see if he’d heard from him. Silas wants to know though if Ava’s seen his phone. No matter how many times she tries to pass it off, he finally gets her to open up her bag where he happens to find his phone. With his phone back in hand, Silas sees their daughter Kiki Jerome had been calling non-stop but Ava begs him not to call her back. With his suspicions of Ava’s shiftiness rapidly being confirmed, Silas still wants to call his daughter but thankfully Kiki’s the one who calls as if on cue.
Kiki and Morgan Corinthos are at Kelly’s having a sad, single kind of Thanksgiving and when she gets in touch with her dad, she wants to know if he’s heard from her mother, unaware that they’re in the same room. After Silas claims to not have seen Ava, Kiki throws out the truth that her mother’s on the run for Connie Falconeri’s murder with only the search for her missing daughter being a part of it all. Panicked, Ava tries to make a run for it but is somehow blocked by Silas. He threatens to call the police and even makes the call but Anna Devane isn’t free at the moment. Ava, sensing she’s gotten a break, talks him down with her pleading about never getting to even hold her baby before Nina stole her away. Slowly but surely, Silas cracks and agrees to help her find the baby.
Back in Canada, Franco is still having doubts about hanging onto a spawn of the mob but Nina makes him sniff the baby which somehow gets him to understand that they should keep her. Nina thinks this is a good way for Franco to get back at Ava who lied to Franco about Kiki’s paternity and kept her away from him, as well as a chance for him to flex his paternal instincts. Franco admits to wanting to have been a father so Nina asks him to do just that for the baby – who still doesn’t have a name. Franco suggests a few names based on his favorite artists, names that are terrible for being undercover and are so garsish they’ll draw all the attention to the poor child, but Nina decides against him. She wants to name her after someone from their family though Franco’s hesitant considering their family histories. The only person who’s been warm to her in her family was Nathan West, or James Reeves, as she’d known him when they were brother and sister. With her little brother-cousin in mind, Nina decides to call her stolen baby Jamie.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it over and over again! Someone make an entire episode dedicated to Nina Clay and Franco on the run! They were only on for what, two or three days of this past week, and they were one of the main standouts for me. Sometimes when Nina brings up Silas Clay, I dread what could have been: her being tied down to her stoic husband instead of interacting with the electric Franco like she is now. There’s just so much chemistry whether it be in friendship moments or in moments where there’s a touch of a possible romance. I just can’t get enough of them and I hope the other viewers are starting to turn in their favor, even if they’re kidnappers.
Thanksgiving with the Legion of Doom
Just when we think that the real Luke Spencer has returned (all of the Quartermaine Thanksgiving attendants seem to think he’s the real deal), we later find out — surprise! — it’s still the imposter who somehow managed to switch with the real Luke back at Miscavige. The fingers are turned on Larry Ashton though, the bumbling drunk is subsequently questioned by everyone in the room about his involvement with Fluke whom they’re pretty sure is either Faison or Larry himself. Lulu Spencer-Falconeri gives everyone the run down on what was found in Larry’s safety deposit box from the mask blueprints to the files on Faison all while Dante Falconeri and Ned Ashton bar him from running. The Lord Ashton seems antsy now, denying all claims against him by pretending to not really hear and begging for a drink. This somehow distracts the room packed full of people enough for the old man to flee, completely escaping the grasp of the fit police detective half his age (Dante…) and into a waiting getaway car. Everyone finds it hard to believe that someone so flighty like Larry Ashton might be tangled up in this web of crime.
Over on Spoon Island, Faison has reunited with Leisl Obrecht much to her joy. She’s sad at what Anna Devane did to him a year ago but he insists that he’s fine though, clearly having survived his time thrown into the Wyndemere catacombs. With Obrecht over the moon, Faison claims to have finally seen that Anna will never love him, that his love should have always been for Liesl. They make plans to leave Port Charles together but only after he finishes one last job. They kiss as Britt Westbourne enters. She threatens to call Nikolas Cassadine on her parents to get her father finally locked up for good, but her mother reminds her of the secret she’s been holding over her head and what’ll happen when she reveals it. Britt decides not to tell Nikolas in favor of saving her own behind, taking her mother’s threat very seriously, but remains firm in that Liesl cannot hide Faison at Wyndemere where it’s much too dangerous. He agrees and heads off to finish his job, promising to return when it’s done.
Liesl is bouncing off the walls that Faison is back and has chosen her over Anna. She wants Britt to join in on that happiness but she daughter can’t, not with the thought of her mother blackmailing. She can’t believe that after everything her mother still would want to ruin her happiness with Nikolas – who steps into the living room that second to ask how something like that could ever happen. Liesl does her best to cover for Britt but Nikolas sees right through her which forces Britt to come clean for once. She admits to crafting Spencer’s runaway tale with the child and in disbelief, Nikolas goes up the wall. Britt promises that Spencer was safe but Nikolas wants none of what she has to say, calling her a selfish woman who deludes herself into thinking she’s selfless. He kicks her out and promises they’ll see each other in court for what she did to his son.
In the aftermath of Dante’s embarrassing mishap, Luke wants everyone out searching for his doppelganger though Dante assures that PCPD is on the case. Luke understandably has no confidence in those officers and wants them to arrest Julian Jerome who is clearly tied to it all. Alexis Davis tries to make excuses for her ex-boyfriend but no one, especially Ned, is buying any of them. After everyone clears out, Tracy and Luke are left alone where she breaks down in his comforting arms, cursing herself for being such a fool. She’d only a year ago picked at Anna for not being able to recognize the real Duke Lavery from the Faison copy and now she found herself in the same laughable situation, embarrassed.
Across town, Julian Jerome, the once dynamic mob boss who was trying to make a punkish run for the hills is caught by his boss Fluke. With a gun raised high, Fluke threatens Julian who wants to know his boss’ real name. PCPD barges into the apartment just moments later, saving Julian from the maniac’s gunfire and giving Anna Devane a chance to unmask the gunman to find Faison, as expected. When Luke, Lulu and Tracy get word that Faison was captured masquerading as Luke there seems to be a collective sigh that all of this is over now. Luke wants to kill Faison but the women in his life manage to quell that anger. When they both leave or head to bed, “Luke” retrieves a hidden cell phone in the fireplace and makes a call. Meanwhile at Julian’s, Faison tries to reason that his crimes were all Anna’s fault for leaving him locked up on Spoon Island a year ago. Dante takes the criminal in while an unfazed Anna arrests Julian who is still full of excuses about his part. He tries to make the commissioner understand that his family was in danger which was why he couldn’t quit the mob but Anna tells him he still has to pay for his part in these crimes.
At PCPD, Anna interrogates an increasingly volatile Cesar Faison. She blames herself for all of his crimes, thinking they were committed because he wants her but cannot have her. After what Anna did to him, Faison thinks she’s no better than him and even tries to bite her. Anna is visibly disgusted especially with how easily he admits to ruining their lives. She laments for Robin Scorpio-Drake’s lost time with her daughter, how she’s not even stable enough to return home and vows to keep Faison away from her daughter.
When she goes to leave, Anna lets Patrick Drake and Sam McCall inside. Patrick accuses Faison of running him off the road which resulted in the premature birth and death of his son but Faison promptly names Victor Cassadine as the culprit. Floored, Patrick is at a loss for words which gives the criminal time to cut off an angry Sam as well. She’s furious at Faison for killing Jason but he lets her know that Jason survived the shooting and that he was at Creighton-Clark being taken care of by Robin. He turns the tables on Patrick and tells Sam to ask him about it. Distraught, Sam has to run out of the room in tears. Patrick catches up to her and admits to knowing about Jason being alive but he died. In probably some of the best scenes of the week, we see that Sam is crushed, in pain at missing her chance to say goodbye to Jason as she curses Patrick.
Anna goes to the Quartermaine’s to visit Luke and Tracy with an apology. She tells the couple about what she did to Faison and Tracy erupts for Anna should have known better; if a prison couldn’t hold Faison then how would a hole on Spoon Island? Anna keeps apologizing to which “Luke” accepts, keeping everyone still unaware of his true identity. Later on, the real Fluke heads for the basement where the real Luke is being held captive. Did you catch that? Didn’t confuse you yet? He’s tied to a chair, still in his orange jumpsuit which makes one wonder when the switch happened. Either way, Fluke is there again to brag about how easily he’s assimilated back into Luke’s life and this time thanks to Faison’s sacrifice, there’ll be no further questions about his identity. Understandably furious, Luke wants to know who this imposter is under the mask only for Fluke to taunt that he isn’t wearing one.
Port Charles has always been home to superheroes and supervillains, both groups who always seem to defy gravity, humanity and jail time, but lately the number of supervillains has been mounting. Usually soap operas tend to stick to one villain per arc but General Hospital has been stacking them one on top of the other in this dizzying imposter Luke Spencer tale. I can honestly say I appreciate the Legion of Doom and all of their evil deeds, I’m always here for a good villain but give me four or five all working together? Amazing! But why-oh-why does this story have to drag on like this? Even just writing the recap for everything that went down this week had me drained, confused and honestly a little over it! There’s no doubt that the players in this story are giving their all but at this point, it’s all becoming a bit too wacky even for me! Unfortunately, there’s no way this storyline will be ending soon as General Hospital lately has become a fan of storyline arcs and this one just began anew.
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