OpinionsSoaps

Low Fidelity: Carly’s Affair Drives Story and Provokes Thought On General Hospital

7
Carly (Laura Wright) struggles to cover her tracks when Franco (Roger Howarth) becomes suspicious. Photo courtesy of ABC Production.
Franco (Roger Howarth) may have found a kindred spirit in Nina (Michelle Stafford). Photo courtesy of ABC Production.

Franco (Roger Howarth) may have found a kindred spirit in Nina (Michelle Stafford). Photo courtesy of ABC Production.

After seeing Franco commit to Carly, even helping her cover for Sonny, I can’t help but feel some sympathy for the devil. Everyone may have felt that he was not deserving of Carly but she had never done anything to make him feel that way until now.

I suspect as the fallout continues we’ll see parallels between Franco’s story and Nina Clay’s (Michelle Stafford) story. Nobody knows just how much being cheated on drives you crazy as Nina does.

What both Nina and Franco have in common is that they both fell madly in love with someone who they put on a pedestal. The relationships never quite crossed the line into obsession but the hurt from the betrayal sure has. Each shaped their lives around someone only to be made the fool.

Carly and Franco have now completely lost both trust and honesty. What does this mean for their relationship? Is it salvageable? It’s hard to say but their outlook looks bleak.

Franco fell in love with Carly after she had saved his life when a brain tumor went haywire. Everything about him was drastically changed and he was drawn to the feeling of safety that she provided. When he finds out that she not only slept with Sonny but let him think he was crazy to question her loyalty, he’s going to be humiliated.

With Nina’s marriage to Silas Clay (Michael Easton), I think it’s pretty safe to say they are not going to have a happily ever after. Over 20 years ago when Nina learned of Silas’s fling with Ava Jerome (Maura West), she was blindsided. Now Nina has moved from desperation to revenge. I suspect Franco will eventually go there too.

Silas and Ava’s affair was very damaging to Nina. We don’t know all her backstory yet but from what we have been told Nina was a kind and devoted wife. After having her self-esteem crushed and years of her life taken from her, she emerged quite changed. With Franco though she displays glimpses of who she once was.

I suspect Carly and Sonny’s affair will result in moving Nina and Franco closer and I think this is a great idea. Not only do Howarth and Stafford have tons of chemistry but together their character’s have a great story to tell.

Franco and Nina are about as far out as soap characters come. One is a reformed serial killing artist and one is a soapy version of Uma Thurman’s character from the film Kill Bill. It doesn’t get any more sensational than that yet their scenes together seem very grounded. They are both able to empathizes with the other’s situation in a way that others can’t.

I think it’s a safe assumption that having her husband sneak around behind her back with sexpot Ava Jerome and then rejecting her for Sam Morgan’s (Kelly Monaco) 4 1/2 feet of pouting cleavage probably made Nina feel very unattractive. Franco tells her she is not. This kindness from him is something she craves and is perhaps why she has develop a protective nature towards him. There is something both comforting and hopeful in this potential relationship.

I don’t know what direction General Hospital has for this tale. Only time will tell if this is just another series of scandalous soap love affairs or if there is any underlying moral lesson. Either way the tangled web of lies in this umbrella story has got me not only entertained but thinking.

Jenn Bishop
Jenn Bishop was TVSource Magazine's Soap Editor. She's a thirty-something fan girl of soapy television and anything involving Joss Whedon. She began sharing her views on daytime soaps in 2012 with her blog Save Our Suds. A former philosophy major, she loves discussing different view points with fellow TV addicts and aficionados. When not watching television, she enjoys art, live music, exploring the Midwest food scene, and drinking too many lattes. Follow her on Twitter at @SourceJenn.

General Hospital Preview: August 25 Edition

Previous article

‘One Life to Live’ Alum Melissa Archer Cast on ‘Days of our Lives’

Next article

You may also like

7 Comments

  1. Carson belong together! They are each others soulmates, they understand each other like no one else could! They are kind of dark & twisty, and that makes them AMAZING because that makes them instresting. I hate “boring” couples and couples that don’t make sense. Franco & Carly NEVER made sense, they only got put together because of LW and RH’s chemistry. But I have to admit this story makes me kind of Franco & Carly at least tolerable because it makes Carson even more HOTER with their sneaking around. I so hope we’re heading for a Carson reunion!

  2. I wish CarSon was a default choice to the writers but i think the pairing is here to stay this time and it isn’t their usual ONS. On april 1st a whole episode was dedicated to them with two previous (popular) Carlys coming back for it. Then in june or july they had that one episode at teh park with Spencer where they talked about people being meant to be together and all that. I believe they’re the lovestory being told right now, the start is messy as usual with them but i would bet on it ending with a 5th wedding.

  3. Thanks for sharing your thoughts Emily! I have seen others say that CarSon is the “lesser of two evils.” It sort of makes them seem like a default when looked at that way. It will be interesting to see what the writers have planned.

  4. Carly and Franco never made any sense on her part, so i’m not surprised that they’re now telling us (via Bobby and Olivia dialogue) that she only got with him because she was a mess over Jason’s death. They were only put together because the actors have chemistry and now they’re giving Carly this silly excuse to get her out of it.

    At least character-wise having an affair with Sonny makes more sense for Carly than dating the guy who send a rapist after her son, strapped her cousin to a bomb and had a weird pedo obsession with her daughter. This relationship made Carly intolerable to a lot people, myself included. I’m not fond of “CarSon” but it’s the lesser of two evils and is rooted in history.

  5. Yes it would be I only watch GH when it is good (I miss the good old GH).

  6. Thank you for commenting Kramer! Wouldn’t it be awesome if after everything blows up Jax returns to town again to help Carly put her life back together? I think that would be a great story for down the road.

  7. My mom started watching General Hospital in 1981 with Laura and Luke’s wedding than she stop watching GH until I started watching it I forgot what it was called but I called it the monkey disease I think it was in 2006 I was only 12 years old than.

    So moving on with… I started liking Carly with Jaxs (I didn’t know that he was the brother of Jerry Jaxs) than I like Carly with Franco than Sonny (I never seen the other two actresses who played Carly) because I started watching GH in 2006.

    I wish Carly could have stay with Jaxs because he was the only good guy not bad guy plain and simple.

Comments are closed.

More in Opinions