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The past week of General Hospital was an improvement from the one that preceded it. There are still issues with repetitiveness and too much violence but it felt more balanced. Scenes of Davis girls, Patrick’s family surprising him with a birthday party, Ric and Scotty battling it out in the courtroom and other such moments worked to give GH the feeling of community. It was less scattered.
There were a number of scenes this week that had more than two people in them. I know many complain about the size of GH’s cast but I’ve never been part of that group. I like that GH has enough characters to provide a sense of community instead of just half a dozen taking heads. The issue isn’t GH’s large cast, but rather the inability to properly utilize the size to their advantage.
There are some fans who’ve erroneously credited their excitement for the current material to new head writers Jean Passananate and Shelly Altman; sorry to burst your bubble, but this is still Ron Carlivati’s material, something Passanante has no problem clarifying on social media when it’s brought up. The new writing team’s work doesn’t hit airwaves until the second week of October. While I’m sure there have been some tweaks to what’s airing, and some stuff that I would have liked to watch likely ended up on the cutting room floor; structurally the end result was tighter story. Did I love everything about this week as far as story and characterizations? No, but there was a noticeable difference in quality with the pacing, connection and overall flow.
General Hospital Week In Review for the week of September 14-18, 2015.
General Hospital Week in Review: Davis Girls Reunited
Kristina (Lexi Ainsworth) returns to support her ailing father Sonny (Maurice Benard). Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com.
One of the major highlights of the week was the return of the much missed Lexi Ainsworth as Kristina Corinthos-Davis. I’m a little perplex as to why GH didn’t promote her return and try to capitalize on her popularity more but regardless fans were happy.
Kristina’s return brought about the return of all the Davis girls in one scene for the first time in years. The female bonding was refreshing and something GH needs more of in the future. I enjoyed watching Alexis and her daughters promise to stick together and love each other regardless of fatherly drama or bad boyfriends. It’s the kind of interactions that have become all so brief or completely forgotten about in recent years.
On her own, Krissy felt like a more grown up version of herself albeit with her continued bad taste in guys. There’s something very Robin-like in Lexi’s Kristina. Though the characters a very different, they represent similar feelings of the glue that holds their families together. Think of it as a moral compass of sorts, though one that doesn’t always point in the direction it should (as evidence by both of their lack of awareness when it comes to Sonny and company). GH needs that type of character — a steadfast go between for the good guys and the baddies. A voice of reason.
It’ll be interesting to see what romantic direction they take Kristina in the coming months. On soaps, relationships and romance is the raison d’être for all characters. Because someone mistakenly believed that GH only needed Sonny’s children for most of the 00s, there aren’t any young Baldwins, Webbers, Quartermaines or other characters tied to legacy families in her age range. Maybe that’s something the new writing team can correct. In the new issue of Soap Opera Digest, Ainsworth says she isn’t sure if the writers are going to bring in someone new for her, but she’s excited to find out.
Law and Order
Ava Jerome is a free woman! Free from both jail and her “Denise” persona. Why it was so easy for her male counterpart to get out of jail and be forgiven by the whole town of Port Charles but such a struggle for Ava, I don’t know. I’m just glad our femme fatale is back and on her way to reclaiming what’s hers, starting with her blond hair and love for martinis.
Ava’s freedom comes courtesy of sneaky lawyer and fellow justified Sonny hater, Scott Baldwin, and the missing recording. Turns out Scotty took the recording with him when he left the DA office and, without that recording as evidence, Ava can’t be prosecuted. Yes, this is swiss cheese but I’ll go with it. Kin Shriner and Maura West are gold together. Not sure if there are any romantic prospects or not for their characters, but they were fun to watch and played together beautifully. I would like to see them eventually work together against the Corinthos clan and give those of us who just aren’t that into Sonny someone to root for. Of course before all that can happen, they need to find that missing recording.
Can Tracy (Jane Elliot) trust Paul ( Richard Burgi). Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
It turns out Scott’s hotel room was ransacked and someone stole the recording from Scotty after he stole it from evidence fair and square! The obvious culprit would be Ric who, after a disastrous day in court, needs the recording back to get in good graces again with his boss and eventually his family Sonny. I’d like to see Ava try to seduce Ric into giving her that recording back only to find out he doesn’t have it, after she falls for him for real naturally. This is a soap after all. I think Ric’s too simple of a guess and Ava’s surprise visitor at the end of the week makes me think there is a twist coming. Could sexy shyster Paul be the one causing all the headache for Port Charles’ mob scene?
Paul has been reconnecting with the son he neglected and the ex-wife he did wrong. The family unit of Paul, Tracy and Dillon is appealing, but there seems to be something shady going on with Paul. The way he’s willing to use his devilish sex appeal to help get Dillon’s movie out of a bind certainly made Tracy suspicious. So what is Paul’s real agenda? Is he just nursing his wounds from a divorce? Or is there a much less admirable reason for his return to Port Charles?
Photo Credit: © Howard Wise/jpistudios.com
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