General Hospital Recap: Pentonville proves easy to escape, Fluke goes Psycho

This week in Port Charles, NY felt like a week in the real world for me. I can’t say that I was overwhelmed nor was I underwhelmed, but I was definitely whelmed. Even with a reveal that has been incubating for about a year now coming to light, I can’t say this week had me necessarily excited – which doesn’t mean it’s a necessarily bad thing either. Anyway, let’s check out what happened on last week’s General Hospital!

Escape from Camp Cupcake

The introduction to Pentonville through Sonny’s torment by Johnny Zacchara was so well done, almost gritty enough to be ripped from a primetime show that it was jarring to see what it had become in a matter of weeks; this whole week we watched prisoner after prisoner skip through the halls of Pentonville with barely a guard in sight to reprimand them. Ava even managed to sneak all the way from the women’s ward of the prison to the men’s side to alert her brother of the dirty cop that tried to slice her open. While she thinks it’s Sonny still after her, Julian (who has been in cahoots with the other mob boss) believes that it’s actually Fluke that’s trying to snuff her out for past failures. Either way, this is just motivation for Ava who assures her brother that she has an escape plan set in place. Julian wants a part of it too, vowing to protect his sister if she lets him get a ride in Madeline Reeves’ transport van too. But before he can inform Ava that an extra seat is needed for Sonny, a guard catches her and takes her away.

While Sonny is being informed from Shawn Butler that Bill Eckert’s grave was empty, Franco was getting caught by guards for holding Sonny’s contraband phone. Being the smooth talker he is, Franco gets himself out of solitary confinement by drafting up a Franco original art piece for the guard to sell. Once alone in his open cell, Franco gives Nina Clay a call over at Shadybrook and is shocked when she passes the phone to his mother, Heather Webber. Before hanging up, his mother vows to get her revenge on Franco by crushing Nina.

Julian later informs Sonny of Ava’s plan, stressing that they have to work together even if Sonny still wants her dead. It takes a bit but Sonny agrees to the idea and also denies putting out any recent hits on Ava. Julian warns Sonny to keep it that way. A desperate Franco stops by their cell and demands to get in on their prison break too. Of course, they fight like kids until Julian decides that having Franco along will be a lot less trouble than leaving him behind. On their way to the meet the transfer van, the trio must take out some conveniently placed guards and ultimately steal their uniforms.

Elsewhere in Pentonville, a cocky Ava informs Madeline that she’ll be piggybacking her all the way to court, promising to lie as much as she can about Nina forcing Madeline to do her dirty work. Having just had a surprise visit with Silas Clay and her baby Avery, Ava’s resolve seems to be stronger than ever and she expresses that feeling to Madeline, promising to not be out for money just a favor in return when the time comes. The time arrives for them to be transferred back to Port Charles and everything goes as planned until Ava realizes the cop that tried to kill her is the driver of the transport van. She panics, refusing to go until Julian, Franco and Sonny show up, the latter of which saves her from the crooked cop. All of the commotion insights the remaining authorities who chase after the criminals who even under heavy gunfire, manage to drive off into the night unharmed, leaving behind a bewildered Madeline. They all bicker as they speed away in the van, Franco wants to go pick up Nina before his mother hurts her but everyone else wants to go to Port Charles to protect their families from Fluke. Julian even tries to send a warning call to his son Lucas Jones but the battery on their phone dies before he can say enough. It’s after that when the criminals notice someone tailing them (miraculously it’s not an entire squadron of cops!) and try to speed up, but with icy conditions and their nerves on high, Julian loses control of the van and they crash. Of course.

So we take a handful of high level convicts, add a scoop of a minimum security prison camp masquerading as a gritty state prison, and what do a we get? A too easy prison break! I don’t think there was anyone who didn’t see this plot point coming. First off, it made so little sense to lock away so many of the canvas’ key characters and second of all, every cell was just wide open all of the time! How could they have not walked out weeks ago? But I digress, no matter how unbelievable it was to see Ava Jerome, Sonny Corinthos, Julian Jerome and Franco burst out of Pentonville, it made for some mildly exciting scenes in between all the lukewarm Fluke. I only wish the Pentonville arc had not evolved into such a group activity. Watching Sonny suffer and maybe, just maybe learn a little humility while behind bars was far more entertaining and believable. But now he’s on his way back to Port Charles and still as cocky and terrible as ever. Where’s the justice? Seriously though, where is SWAT, the CIA, et cetera to get these bad guys?