General Hospital Recaps: #Jasam starts to rise from the ashes, Sonny gets pardoned and Franco gets groovy

Saint Sonny

Now I was a part of the #SONNYISTHEWORST movement just a few months ago, and by no means am I turning in my membership card but now I’ve come to understand the character of Sonny Corinthos much more than I used to. I’ve only been watching General Hospital for just under three years, so all of my understanding of who Sonny is comes from all of his recent unsavory schemes and not from the place where I can paint him as the tragic hero with a heart of gold. A lot of people have an affinity for this character, so the show redeeming him in such a big way this week played right into those fans’ wishes so I do applaud them for that… But… really? To some of those people, Sonny is very much honorable and upstanding even if most of what he does every day is illegal, but what he’s done throughout 2014 deserves no praise and even he knows it!

Before we get to the sanctification of Sonny, we have to backtrack to where the week began. Tensions were running high because Fluke’s big plan was coming to pass. When Sonny, Julian and Ava Jerome heard about Fluke wanting to blow up the Haunted Star, it kicked off the world’s easiest prison break until they were ran off the road. It’s Carlos Rivera and Johnny Zacchara who are behind it and a shootout promptly begins. Franco who has nothing to do with this mob war slips away while both Julian and Ava get shot – Sonny makes it out clean however. When the opposition retreats after taking hits, Sonny goes to rescue Ava who’s fallen off the bridge and is hanging on for dear life. Looking back on it now, in a little teaser of what’s to come, we see Sonny do the heroic thing by trying to hoist Ava up, even insisting that he’ll save her because it’s what Connie Falconeri would have wanted. Unfortunately, Ava’s too weak and falls anyway and after talking with Julian, Sonny continues on the mission solo to save their families on the Haunted Star. When all of the partygoers realize there’s a bomb on board and no one thinks to evacuate, Michael Quartermaine detaches the bomb and heads for the deck to try and get rid of it in the water. Even if a little silly, the moment is tense until out of nowhere comes Sonny who takes the bomb and dives overboard as it explodes. Everyone onboard is saved but Sonny is nowhere to be found for a long while. Even Michael worries about the man he’d written off for killing his biological father, expressing to a frantic Carly when she arrives the pain of now having to live without two fathers. No one knows if Sonny is alive, but everyone doubts it. He’s been under for too long. When his body is finally tugged onto the shore, paramedics are sure that he’s dead and even walk away from the body. But leave to Carly to never give up! After pleading and breathing all over the waterlogged mob boss, and with Michael’s help, Sonny comes back from the watery grave and is promptly deemed a hero. The new girl in town, who has a lot of lines for an extra character, Ivy, announces that in thanks for saving her life and countless others that her father who is the governor of New York will pardon Sonny’s crimes.

So not only did he come back to life but now he’s a free man again? Everything about the story rubbed me the wrong way, especially since Sonny was a hundred percent set on serving his time for the crimes he committed. As I’ve mentioned before, his Pentonville arc would have played out nicely had he remained the sole prisoner trying to stave off attacks from Johnny while trying to reconcile with his own demons. Sonny had never been pinned down like this before, it would have been a great chance to fully redeem the character. A sudden Get Out of Jail Free card feels like such a cheat. The only way I can reconcile this development with myself is if we get to see Sonny’s guilt about being able to walk free for a crime that he’d been ready to pay the price for. Don’t go back to the ranting and raving mobster who thinks he’s invincible, not yet! It’ll be captivating to see him trying to deal with that new layer of guilt this is sure to add, as well as the bile that’s sure to rise back up in Michael at his father’s killer.

The Asian Quarter’s Cheapest reunite

Jake Doe and Sam Morgan finally, maybe, sort of connecting felt a lot more momentous to me than the bomb on the Haunted Star or in the old Spencer house. Sam is such a boss that she corners Jake in the interrogation room even after she finds that he was the one who held her hostage at gunpoint, demanding answers from him as to why it all happened. Okay, maybe there was a good amount of security what with him being handcuffed to the table and a host of cops outside the door but still! Watching Sam take charge and actually dig into peculiarities that don’t and would never make sense in real life, things that everyone in Port Charles seems to be okay with brushing off, about Jake was compelling to watch. In those scenes, it was very clear that there’s a huge heaping of chemistry between Billy Miller and Kelly Monaco.

Billy Miller might be a recast, but when Sam began to explain what those cheap Asian Quarter figurines meant to her and her husband, the man unknowingly sitting next to her, you felt that nostalgia for the couple even if we’ve never seen them on screen together as a couple. At first, Sam had been ready to tear into Jake for what he did, but watching her sort of melt and feel compassion for him was one of my favorite parts of these scenes together. When he explained that he can neither confirm nor deny his involvement in breaking into Sam’s house, holding her hostage or helping Faison escape because of his memory loss, Sam begins to warm up to him through her worry as she watches him have violent flashbacks to his past. Little does she know, they involve her and their life together back when he was Jason Morgan her husband. Confusion arises when after a tough flashback of Jason and Sam exchanging the figures, Jake claims that Sam is the one who gave him the phoenix only to have another trip out of the present that makes him then admit to being the thief.

Watching him, Sam begins to believe that someone really might be putting him up to all of this by messing with his head and he confirms another person’s involvement by naming Helena Cassadine. More memories come flooding back to him in time for Jake to warn Sam of the bomb Helena ordered him to plant on the boat. Thanks to their efforts, Sam gets in touch with her brother Lucas Jones which leads to the safe removal of the explosive. It’s almost like the two are a super powered team again out to save the day! I was beyond conflicted though when Patrick Drake stormed into the PCPD interrogation room after learning Jake had planted the bomb. Do you cheer for Patrick defending his girl Sam and whine when he gets pinned easily by Jake? Or do you cheer when Jake pins down Patrick and stands on Sam’s side trying to prove his innocence? Both pairings are working up to be something great with chemistry shooting right off the meters so having to choose in the end is going to be painful.

Later, Sam explains her belief in Jake’s claims of innocence by way of brainwashing after recalling Helena doing the same thing to Lucky Spencer years ago. Patrick doesn’t believe it initially but if Sam is sure, then he’s behind her (which I love!). It’ll be interesting to watch Sam perhaps working on Jake’s behalf now but for concrete evidence, not just blindly defending him because of his pecs, smile and the feelings he brings. Ahem, Carly and Liz.

Once again, these recaps are not blow for blow recaps and contain my own feelings toward the storylines this week. Use my points to kick off a conversation. Comment or tweet me if you agree or disagree with me, I want to know what the readers have to say. Your input is what makes this all the most fun! See you next week!