General Hospital Recap: Ava Gets Some Bad News, Nina And Franco Team Up With Fluke, #Naxie Vs. #Spixie

Kisses for her and him, not him too

Nina Reeves and Franco’s time in Shadybrooke have been spent stringing along pop culture references in their attempts to still seem off their rockers, this last week continued in that fine trend with Three’s Company references this time. Finally freed from the confines of his room, Franco and Nina meet up in the institution’s rec room for a little hide and seek from the fictional Mr. Roper – at least Franco partakes, Nina’s more than happy trying to convince another patient of her sanity while pining for her husband and baby. Both of whom are pretty much fictional to her too. Like a perfectly timed comedic duo, they keep their characters going until the other patient flees giving them a chance to reinforce their plan to ham it up as long as possible until they can break free from the institution.

Their talk is interrupted when Nathan West shows up transporting a heavily secured Luke Spencer after his attack on Scotty Baldwin. Nina’s rightfully happy to see her brother again after some time apart for which he apologizes but she dismisses it, she’s just happy to see him again. He explains what happened with Luke and Franco overhears his father’s name and speaks up in a moment of clear sanity, one that he has to correct immediately by instead listing off names of the famous Baldwin brothers and including his father in them. Nathan desperately wants Nina to make new friends after seeing that sideshow.

When the cop leaves the facility, Nina has to remind Franco to keep his cool so as to not blow their cover before the time is right. He promises to do just that but slips away some time later to visit Luke, vowing as Franco Baldwin to kill the attacker of his father. This is a side we haven’t seen of Roger Howarth’s Franco in so long, probably not since the fantastic event of the Hallowedding, that ominous side that is just as convincing as the comedic side. For the longest time we’ve seen Luke or Fluke running about town with threats for just about everyone so watching him visibly get disturbed, restrained to a bed as a once convicted serial killer promises to off him in a grand fashion takes the cake. Not even his smooth talking about his rivalry with Scotty throughout the years can save him. He even begins warning Franco that killing him will only make his father feel worthless for never being able to do so himself yet Franco still picks up a pillow to begin suffocating the once prominent citizen of Port Charles. Thankfully Nina had been tailing him and shows up in time to snatch away the pillow from him, she even gets to give him a good smack with it too.

I’ve always loved that these two have an equal partnership but when things get literally unbalanced, one is there to help balance the other out again; Nina talks Franco down from committing murder by reminding him he doesn’t want to be held in Shadybrooke for longer than necessary as they’ll be flying the coop soon enough. Luke overhears this and promises he can help to which Franco oddly finds intriguing. Nina reminds him that he almost just tried to kill this man but now wants to trust him with an escape plan, it’s just not right! Franco however thinks this is their best chance to escape and be together especially when Luke christens himself the Master of Disappearances. There’s no doubt that Luke is a pro at busting out of joints, but he’s best at doing so when he’s solo. Who’s to say he won’t leave Nina or Franco behind when the timing’s right? I like that Nina is questioning this and not just jumping head first into it, she’s never been the type and I’m glad the writers remember that this is a woman who crafted an intricate revenge plan against her entire family; she’s patient and cautious about this sort of thing. Should Nina put her trust in Luke or should she still try to go forward with just her and Franco?

A kiss without warning

In a boring and predictable turn of events, Nathan West got an eyeful of Spinelli kissing Maxie Jones this last week. There was just – nothing interesting about this but I do feel like I have to speak on it a little. Just a little bit.

After getting caught in an obviously compromising situation, Maxie attempts to lie her way out of trouble by saying that Spinelli forced himself on her. She didn’t want to kiss him and she wasn’t even kissing him back, therefore it wasn’t a real kiss and Nathan shouldn’t be mad. Right… With her eyes darting around everywhere, it’s hard to believe that Nathan would buy her story that it was stupid, unwanted kiss even when Spinelli reasons that there was something there but buy it he does. Nathan’s famous one-track mind kicks in and he goes after Spinelli, calling his character in question with his fists clenched at the ready but just before a punch can be thrown a computer sound goes off. Apparently Spinelli’s got a hit on Pat Spencer’s location so he darts out to report to his employer, Tracy Quartermaine to report his confidential information. This leaves the couple to themselves so Maxie tries to break the ice by proposing dinner plans but Nathan turns them down, proposing that they reevaluate their relationship or call it a day.

Now here’s the major issue with this love triangle – it’s so forced that it’s boring! Love triangles are supposed to be dynamic, full of polarizing emotions to drag viewers in one direction then in another just a short while later but none of this is happening. I don’t want to root for Maxie to be with a boring albeit sexy neanderthal like Nathan, a person who can only see one single path to take no matter the situation nor do I want her to be with Spinelli whose recent infatuation with her feels so forced. Wasn’t it just a year or so that he assured her that they were over, that he moved on? They share a kid and his love with Ellie Trout fell through but that doesn’t mean he immediately defaults back to Maxie, not after making such a big point of not wanting her not so long ago. A month ago we were teased with so much Maxie and Johnny Zacchara only to get nothing concrete in return. There were sparks there, not just between the off-screen couple but with the characters too. Johnny and Maxie have wanted each other for a while now; it would have made much more sense for Spinelli’s feelings to renew after seeing Maxie climbing into bed with a bad influence like Johnny. There’s enough history there that Spinelli knows about to spark a truly entertaining story but instead we’re stuck with this. Maxie is an interesting character yet she’s constantly paired up with the wrong men, I feel. Her time with Spinelli was important to her character development but when he moved on to a new woman that felt like the end of that chapter and to me, Nathan doesn’t even deserve a page in her book. Maxie deserves much more than a contrived story. Maybe if the writers finally give her a job she can spend some time away from both men.

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!