By 
Last week Port Charles continued to (Emmy) reel from Morgan’s death. The cast has been giving this material their all. General Hospital took a bit of a risk in killing off the only biological offspring of Sonny and Carly and so far that risk is paying off. The tragic demise has launched story and rerouted the direction of many characters.
There was a lot of hugging and crying last week as everyone dealt with the fallout of Morgan’s death. For me, the decision to kill off the character feels like the right move. In an odd way, the younger Corinthos had sort of ran his course. Many of his relationships were written into a corner and in order to maintain the character there would have needed to be a lot of rebuilding. Perhaps a recast would have given an opportunity to reboot the character but I’m okay with him being gone. His death will bring a lot of good character development for others and, if played properly, will have a lasting impact.
A lot happened last week on GH and I wasn’t able to mention everything. If you would like to share your thoughts on anything that I did or did not mention, please leave a comment below or tweet me and we’ll chat.
General Hospital Week In Review for the episodes that aired October 10th-14th.
Sins of The Father
Carly leaves Sonny.
GH has used the “sins of the father” tag line so much in last few decades that it fails to have meaning anymore. We know the story by heart now – Sonny “the good mobster” gets into a mob war with a “bad mobster”, one of his kids gets hurt in the process, everyone gets upset, everyone forgives him because it’s somehow not his fault, rinse, repeat. It’s quite possible that Morgan’s death will fall into that same cycle. I hope it doesn’t though.
Carly decided to leave Sonny. He promised her to not go after Julian and breaking that promise cost their son his life. Calling off the hit at the last minute does not absolve Sonny of responsibility. If it turns out that someone else is responsible for the bomb in Julian’s car, Sonny is still guilty of taking part in a dangerous mob war and creating an environment of violence for his children to play in. Do I think Morgan’s death will change Sonny’s wicked ways once and for all? Not a chance. Do I think Carly will stay away from Sonny and mean it this time? Nope. However, what they do isn’t as important as the consequences to those actions. Will Joss ever be cool with Uncle Sonny and what will she think of her mom if Sonny is forgiven in a few weeks? Will Dante be okay with his father continuing to justify his criminal activity? Will Michael eventually take off his rose-colored glasses and distance himself from his parents? Carly and Sonny’s toxic relationship needs to have repercussions.
Jean Passanante and Shelly Altman made a smart move by using Morgan’s exit to launch story and redirect a lot of characters. In the case of the Corinthos clan in particular, I feel like this is a much needed course correction. I know some will disagree with me but the united, happily dysfunctional family stuff was just not who the Corinthos are. They are not the Quartermaines and never, ever will be. Carly is not an obedient wifey. She loves Sonny but hates him just as much. Sonny is not a wonderful father nor a hero. He puts his family in constant danger for his selfish pursuit of power. Michael and especially Dante are not blind to this. They may love their father but struggle with his poor choices. And Joss is a Jacks and needs to behave as such. Last week, I felt like I was no longer watching Bizarro World versions of these characters.
This Is Why We Fight
There was a focus on many different methods of parenting last week and how to help deal with the bad things in life. Franco played a mostly supporting role but a very important one given his past. How do you deal with the regret of hurting someone?
Sam stopped by Liz’s place to drop off Jake’s homework and the ladies made a decent effort to be civil. However, things got heated when the subject of Franco was brought up and only escalated more when he showed up with takeout. Jake caught the tense moment between the grow-ups and wanted an explanation. “Sam, why don’t you like Franco?” he asked. “Because I hurt her,” responded Franco. Franco explained what he had done in a manner that was appropriate for a child and stated that while he would always continue to try to be a better person, Sam was right not to forgive him. Sam looked on, holding back tears. The actors did a great job tackling the struggles of coexisting together in Jake’s life. These characters aren’t going to be best friends but they are going to try their best to be the adults in the situation. More violence doesn’t have to be the answer for them. (As a side note: I also liked that Jason stopped by to hug his son after witnessing Morgan die because of Sonny’s poor choices.)
Franco comforts Kiki.
Later, Franco played the role of father for Kiki, offering comfort as she wept from the news that Morgan had died. She was unconsolable, thinking what happened was her fault. “To hell with being a good person or a decent person or someone who cares about anyone but myself.” Sounds a lot like something someone else has said in the past doesn’t it? Franco goes to Crimson looking for Dillon and bumps into Nina instead. Nina clearly still wishes Franco could have been a father to her child and Franco is still convinced he can only be a good father if he doesn’t have to worry about his DNA. Of course, though he can’t see it, both Jake and Kiki are a lot like Franco which is why he is able to relate to them. Was it just me or was GH hinting again that Kiki might be Franco’s daughter after all? I’d actually like it if they switched Kiki’s parentage back to Franco. I mean not even the actor who played Silas cared about Silas.
Kiki continues to beat herself up over Morgan’s death. She reasons that if she hadn’t acted on her feelings for Dillon then Morgan would still be alive. It doesn’t help when Michael lashes out at her for betraying Morgan either. Of course, Michael conveniently forgot that he actually stole Kiki away from Morgan at one point. This poor girl has really let the Corinthos family do a number on her. It was never fair for Carly to place the responsibility of son’s well-being on the young woman. Now she feels like she doesn’t deserve to be happy and has pushed Dillon away as a result.
#AMor No More
I don’t understand how someone as cunning as Ava continues to be so reckless. Scotty pointed out to her that tampering with Morgan’s meds could lead to someone getting hurt but why didn’t she think of that herself? Ava put both Morgan and her daughter in danger and that doesn’t make sense to me considering she loved them both. Perhaps she didn’t quite get what would happen. When she manipulated Sonny into not taking his meds a few years back, Sonny behaved strangely at a party and maybe that’s all she expected Morgan to do. But this didn’t really feel true to her character. Ava’s a baddie but that doesn’t mean that her few redeeming qualities should be ignored.
Julian gives Ava the bad news.
Ava switching Morgan’s pills did provide great fallout though. She was at one time very much in love with Morgan and she has always been protective of Kiki in her own sort of way. The guilt of her actions will weigh heavy on her. Is Ava to blame for Morgan’s death? Yes and no. Her actions had a contribution to what happen but it wasn’t just her actions alone that lead to Morgan losing his life. She didn’t get Morgan drunk, tell him to steal a car and plant a bomb in Julian’s car. I hope that GH allows the blame to be shared.
Maura West played the scenes of Ava finding out about Morgan’s death masterfully. The mascara running down her face, breaking a martini glass, crumbling to the floor…I loved it all. I wonder what this will mean for her future relationships. The guys she dates either end up dead or serial killers. It would be interesting to see how Ava would react to a relationship with a safe guy who adored her. She really is unlucky in love. The flashbacks of Ava and Morgan’s romance reminded me of how much I once loved that pairing. They were naughty and fun for the brief time they were together. I didn’t expect the May/December romance to last but it really went off the rails. It would have been nice if they had gotten a more respectable ending that didn’t involve cryptsex and bad wigs.
Comments