‘General Hospital’ Week In Review: Caring Is Creepy

Last week’s General Hospital focused a lot on family, particularly about being who one needs to be for the people they care about about. Julian’s out of the mob and he means it this time. He is putting his family’s well-being before greed, power and vendettas. Kristina’s secret may be more about not wanting to disappoint than bad grades. Jason and Liz came to the realization that Jake is very troubled and needs them to be grown-ups. Lulu decided to fight for her family and Dante wavered on whether to go through with a divorce. Carlos acknowledged the error of his ways as Sabrina was about to give birth.

There were a lot people facing very important decisions. How much effort should you put into saving a shattered marriage? Should your family suffer just because you don’t want to let go of the life for which you’ve become accustomed? Can you trust that your parents will love you no matter what? Is trying to win the heart of a guy who doesn’t want you worth more than the people who actually need you? And how important is it to set a good example for your kids? Some of Port Charles’ residents are making the right choices while other continue down the wrong path.

Overall I enjoyed most of last week’s GH and liked a lot of what is set up going into February sweeps. If you want to share your thoughts or get my thoughts on anything I did or did not discuss, please leave a comment or feel free to tweet me and we’ll chat.

General Hospital Week In Review for the episodes that aired January 25th-29th.

We All Fall Down

This week the truth about Liz’s stalker came to light. After Sam tells Franco about the mysterious stalker, accusing both Liz and him of being the culprits, he lets it slip that Jake has issues. When Sam tries to get more information from him, he refuses to tell her. Back at Liz’s house, Jason realizes that Jake’s scary picture that looks like the girl from The Ring is actually his interpretation of Sam. Meanwhile, Franco is trying to get Liz to listen to him about Jake’s drawings but she doesn’t take his sense of urgency seriously, especially after he reveals that he spoke to Samantha about Jake. When Jason shows up to talk to Liz about his suspicions, she finally agrees to hear Franco out. “This isn’t anxiety, this is rage. And the kid who drew this is already acting out,” Franco tells them after showing them Jake’s artwork. As his parents’ fears set in, Jake is staging yet another incident by breaking a window. Sam shows up and figures out that Jake is the one staging the threats. He runs to hide in the basement and, when Sam follows him, she takes a stumble down the stairs.

Sam’s fall was an accident but I don’t expect Jake to call 911 as one would normally do. Jake is very disturbed but he doesn’t want to be seen that way. As Franco told Jason and Liz, he wants to seem like he fits in. He’ll probably be afraid of the reaction everyone will have when they find Sam. While Liz, Jason and Franco discuss what they can do to help Jake overcome his troubles, who is going to help Sam? I personally am really enjoying this story and can’t wait to see how the rest of it unravels. It has a 90’s style social issue element to it while also being part thriller. Jake has been terrorizing his family but not because he’s evil. His strange behavior no doubt has to do with how he was raised while he was kidnapped and the psychological impact it had on him. Liz and Jason will now have to put aside their hurt feelings and do what’s best for their son.

Making Of A Murderer

All the talk about Jason possibly remembering how Franco terrorized him could lead to some compelling story. Though there is a needed disconnect between James Franco’s and Roger Howarth’s versions of the character, it would be interesting to kind of explore some aspects of original Franco. James Franco’s first guest appearance on GH was…well it wasn’t as horrid as the rest of it. Had it been left there, viewers probably wouldn’t have hated it as much. What was intriguing about Franco’s first story line was that it took a look into the minds of two different murderers. Both Franco and Jason had very different reasons for being killers and different ways with dealing with the feeling of nothingness that it provided. When Franco was in prison for a crime he didn’t commit and surrounded by murderers, he begin to wonder what it would actually be like to kill someone. His fascination with his alleged brother, the hitman with a heart of gold, added to this. When he did kill though, it gave him no joy. He felt nothing from it, accept for maybe some strange sort of sad emptiness, so he turned it into art.

Jason on the other hand had a very different reason for being a killer. He wasn’t good at anything else and being a killer gave him a sense of worth. He was brain damaged and felt he didn’t have the option to be a better human being. Being part of Sonny’s various mob wars got him accolades and made him feel as though he had purpose. And there was always the excuse that the people he killed were bad. He didn’t kill for a rush or to make art; he killed because it was his job and what Sonny told him to do. Franco hoped that his “brother” would be able to provide him with the missing piece of the puzzle in the art of killing that would actually allow him to feel something, but Jason couldn’t do that because he doesn’t feel anything when he kills either.

Right now, Jason 3.0 is non-character. He’s been in Port Charles for over a year but still lacks definition. What if his defining moment comes from the actions that he chooses when he remembers Franco? Does Jason want to be a loving father and husband or a stone cold killer? What kind of example does he want to set for his children, in particular little Jake who is battling his own rage? Would he be okay with Jake killing someone? I doubt it.

The clips below are of Franco and Jason’s killer confessions in 2010. The production, writing, lighting, musical score and some of the acting is not the best to put it mildly. But there is something to the scenes that could definitely be explored now as a part of Jake’s story.

“Killing was the first thing I was ever good at.”

“I didn’t feel a damn thing.”