How long will it be until someone figures out Peter August's big secret?
This week on General Hospital, the answer seemed to be "soon... like, really soon."
Over the course of these past few months, multiple groups have inched closer to tracking down Henrik Faison. At this point, even Valentin is actively warning Peter that his days of remaining hidden are numbered.
Peter is really better off coming clean, owning up to everything, and hoping for the best (aka, not getting murdered by Jason).
I'm getting antsy waiting for this all to blow up in Peter's face, because I think the fallout has the potential to be amazing soap. Not so much because of Peter himself, but because of everyone else involved.
When the truth about Peter's identity comes out, eventually Port Charles will find out that Griffin knew and kept it a secret. Valentin was even more directly involved in the cover-up.
And, of course, there's the matter of Anna being Henrik/Peter's mom.
I absolutely loved every single Robert/Anna scene this past week. The two have amazing chemistry that remains as strong as ever.
Robert's reaction to the news that Anna is Henrik's mom was perfect. He was shocked, but not judgmental. He immediately moved towards supporting her and helping her figure out the best course of action.
Unfortunately, Robert's involvement has landed him in hot water. The last we saw of him on Friday, he was on a plane and had just been drugged by Valentin.
That fake-out at the end of Wednesday – when Anna announced to Jason that "Henrik's mother is right here" – really got me.
It was such a classic soap end-of-the-episode fake-out. For a second, I really thought Anna was coming clean and telling Jason the truth. I got excited.
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In reality, Anna was making the situation even more complicated, by setting in motion a plan in which she'd lie about lying about being Henrik's mom. Confusing, right? That's pretty much guaranteed to backfire on her.
Also, Anna is fooling herself if she really thinks she can stop Jason from killing Henrik if that's what he decides he wants to do.
This is Jason we're talking about. He's not big on mercy or forgiveness.
Speaking of people Jason is not willing to forgive...
Liz and Franco finally returned to our screens after quite a number of days absent.
Their scenes on Thursday were brief but very sweet.
Becky and Roger have great chemistry. It's just a shame they're stuck in this rut, all because the writers are doing backflips trying to explain away all of Franco's past misdeeds.
Franco's redemption has been, pardon my French, a clusterf*ck, but the writers are too deep in it now to do anything else. They've got to see this through, and I guess they're handling it as well as they can.
Franco has been keeping busy helping the kids with his art therapy and reaching out to Harvey's other victims to help them find closure. I'm intrigued to see what this Steven person wants and why he's asking to meet up.
There was also the Sonny/Ava debacle to contend with.
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After Mike and Avery were found safe and sound at the end of the previous week, it was obvious that Ava would use the situation to her advantage, regardless of being cruel to an old man with Alzheimer's.
Listen. I'm no Sonny apologist here. It certainly irks me when the writers have characters virtually ignore his and Carly's many misdeeds. But objectively, what Ava did was awful.
Ava lost custody of Avery for legitimate reasons. This wasn't a situation where CarSon manipulated the system to claim Avery for their own. It was Ava's own fault.
Furthermore, Ava proved that she wasn't actually concerned about Avery's safety in this situation.
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When she agreed to joint custody, that much became clear – because if she really believed that Avery living with Mike put her in danger, she'd have pushed to keep the two of them apart completely.
By agreeing to split custody, Ava confirmed that she was just looking out for her own interests.
Ava was also a total idiot when she lied to Griffin about the circumstances of the custody agreement.
Why on earth did Ava think Griffin wouldn't find out from Sonny or Carly what Ava had really done?
Their confrontation was fantastic, with really strong work from both Maura and Matt. Like I've said before, I don't particularly have strong feelings either way about this pairing – but they knocked it out of the park after Griffin called Ava out for her duplicity.
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Interestingly, and kind of annoyingly, the argument went nowhere at all.
Ava was unapologetic, and Griffin just sort of... cooled down and let it go. It was weird, wasn't it? That scene had such a strong start and then just sort of fizzled out with an "OK, guess I'll see you at home later."
Finally, there was the matter of Nelle vs. the Corinthos family.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Chloe Lanier is great, and the writers are squandering her talent if they have her go too far off the deep end, past the point of no return.
In fact, Chloe recently won the Daytime Emmy for Best Younger Actress.
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For that reason, I'm really hoping that Nelle stops her scheme to drive Carly crazy before it's too late and there are lasting consequences. Right now, they're sending her down the same road they sent Lisa Niles all those years ago.
Lisa Niles wasn't any great loss, but I'd actually be sad to see Nelle get killed off.
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A soap villain attempting to convince his or her enemy that they're crazy is a trope as old as time. It's still silly that Carly (or anyone) hasn't considered the fact that it could be Nelle, a known manipulator, messing with her.
But I can forgive it because of Laura Wright's performance.
Laura is really amazing. I love the way this storyline is resurfacing Carly's grief over losing Morgan in a very real and organic way. It's been over a year since his death, but it's still fresh for her, in the same way it would be fresh for a grieving mom in real life.
I'd be shocked if this storyline and its eventual (hopefully soon) resolution doesn't earn Laura an Emmy next year.
Other Thoughts:
- I'm sorry, but I truly could not care less about Jordan and Curtis' potential engagement. I like Curtis just fine with everyone else, but those two have very little chemistry in my eyes.
- That said, I cannot even with Aunt Stella's objection to the possible marriage. She is completely insufferable, except when she's supporting Mike's family through his Alzheimer's journey.
- This whole thing with Finn and Chase is definitely helping me feel sympathy for Chase but it's also making me dislike Finn. I'm sure they'll resolve their differences soon enough, but for now, it's bringing out all the worst in Finn.
- But speaking of Chase: I've noticed some of the GH fandom is jonesing for a Chase/Kiki pairing. Let's get them in a scene together asap and see how that goes!
- Ava inadvertently used Nelle's disappearing ink pen when writing her donation check for the Nurse's Ball. It's interesting that Ava will potentially be Nelle's downfall.
- Dr. Bensch is so, so sketchy. I'm glad that Griffin apparently is catching on to that fact. Hopefully he'll help Kiki extract herself from this terrible situation.
- Are the writers planning to give Josslyn a personality outside of "mini-Carly" at any point? I hope so.
- Elizabeth Hendrickson is joining GH as a new character! I'm really excited about this news. I loved her characters on All My Children and The Young and the Restless. I thought she had particularly great chemistry with Billy Miller back when he was on Y&R, so I hope they get a chance to work together again. Drew needs a distraction from Sam.
What did you think of General Hospital this week? Share your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to join us again next time!
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General Hospital Review: One Way or Another by Caralynn Lippo
