General Hospital Two Scoops for the week of October 14

It was a week of General Hospital motherly shocks, anvils, and out-of-nowhere reveals as Mother’s Day came early to Port Charles.

Holly Mother of…

GH, please really and truly explain how Holly and Sasha are mother and daughter. It feels like this story was dreamed up at the last minute, and from the sounds of Emma Samms’ interview in Soap Opera Digest, not even the GH cast or crew knew this was coming.

Never have we seen a more out-of-left-field maternity and paternity reveal. Sasha Gilmore Corbin has been a part of the Port Charles scene for six years. Holly has been flitting in and out of town for about two years, and Robert is just…always around somewhere, even if we don’t see him for a few months. Until Wednesday, there was absolutely zero hint that either character had any connection to Sasha whatsoever, and by the middle of Thursday’s episode, we learned they were her parents. Say what now???

First, the timing of Holly’s never-before-heard-of pregnancy doesn’t work. Longtime fans remember, even if GH does not. Yes, Robert was presumed dead for years, but how could Holly have become pregnant with his child right before he was allegedly killed? He was happily married to Anna and completely devoted to her. Not only that, but Holly was in Port Charles for a whole year right after Robert died, and she was absolutely not pregnant.

Even Felicia’s explanation for why Sasha’s hair didn’t show a relation to Mac when she switched out a strand of Cody’s hair for her own when Felicia ran a DNA test makes this make no sense. Since when do DNA results say “yes” or “no”? It feels like GH remembered that tidbit from just this year and inserted a scene to satisfy confused fans—but it wasn’t very satisfactory.

And Robert’s reaction to learning he has an adult daughter he’d never heard about before? While Tristan Rogers hit all the beats the writing handed him, the beats were off. No dramatic buildup, a reveal in the middle of a scene, no closeups, and dull dialogue that made it seem like just another day in the life of the Port Charles district attorney.

On a normal soap, a maternity and paternity reveal like this cannot happen unless we get weeks (or even months) of hints and tension. Instead, about two months of story was dropped in our laps in less than 72 hours. How does something like this even happen?

Also, since when did British Holly have a mother living in Westchester, NY? We were told Holly’s very British mother died years ago. How did that suddenly change?

At least there is a silver lining here. Despite the weirdness of how this all came about, Holly and Sasha as mother and daughter are entertaining. The scenes between Sofia Mattsson and Samms were fantastic, and their mother-daughter dynamic had us drawn in after just a few short scenes. As soap fans, it’s hard to let go of the history we saw before, as soaps are supposed to have continuity through the decades, but this is a retcon, and when GH retcons things, it often forgets what came before—or at least ignores it. So, why not go with this one and see what happens and how the show explains this bizarre turn of events further? Yes, we’re intrigued and as we said…entertained.

Say it isn’t so for Sam

We don’t think we have ever seen more heavy-handed anvils on a soap. It’s so clear that Sam is going to die during the transplant that we can already write a week’s worth of recaps without even watching what plays out. It feels like a kick in the pants to diehard Sam fans—a beloved character for the last 21 years.

Scout essentially told us what was going to happen when she was the only one of the Sante kids to realize that Sam would actually be having surgery, and surgery could be dangerous. The look on that poor child’s face when she heard that her mother was going to give away a portion of her liver so that Rocco’s mom could live was heartbreaking.

Kelly Monaco put in a stellar performance when Sam realized the gift she could give Dante and Rocco, but GH did her and the Davis girls dirty when their last family scenes together focused on Molly and Kristina’s incessant fighting rather than Sam’s selfless news. At least Sam called them out for it, but we expected so much more when this female family dynamic has been such a large part of the show for so many years.

When Alexis loses her firstborn daughter, Sam, sometime in the next two weeks, we expect Nancy Lee Grahn to bring down the house.

Lulu’s moms make us want to cry

Not to be outdone by deadbeat mom Holly, selfless mom Sam, and proud mom Alexis, Laura and Tracy were the moms to watch for nostalgia, history, and maturity as they kept vigil for Lulu at the hospital.

Laura is the mom who gave birth to Lulu and raised her until adolescence. Tracy is the “stepmonster” who took over when Laura was in a catatonic state through Lulu’s teenage years. They each had a part in helping Lulu become the woman she was when she entered her now four-year coma. Did you not break out the tissues when Tracy placed her hands on Laura’s cheeks and wiped the tears from her eyes?

“Caring for your daughter, Laura, was a privilege, nothing less,” Tracy said with all the heart Jane Elliot gives to any scene. Wouldn’t you cry, too?

Give it a rest, Kristina

The baby’s name was Irene, Kristina. And she wasn’t yours. She belonged to Molly and T.J., and no, you would not be home with her if you hadn’t fallen through Ava’s window into the pool. She would be with her parents, Molly and T.J.

At least Ava and Ric had a good time at her expense. Rick Hearst and Maura West are pure magic together and can terrorize the town as well as they terrorized Kristina by just smiling and eating dinner. Also, Kristina needs to understand that she tripped over a duffel bag. That’s why Irene is dead.

Lucky and Liz…Sigh

Although teenage Liz and Lucky were magic and adult Liz and Lucky were the definition of dysfunctional, we begrudgingly admit that Rebecca Herbst and Jonathan Jackson still have it. Lucky treated Elizabeth horribly the last time they were together, but everyone makes mistakes, right?

Maybe if Lucky actually sought out therapy, showed some real growth (trashing Bobbie’s was not it), and offered a few mea culpas, these two former high school sweethearts could work again. And Lucky is in luck. His stepdad is a therapist, so it’s a win-win.

Sonny skates…but that scene with Alexis

Sexis anyone? No, really. Sure, it’s been decades, but Sonny is single, Alexis is single, and Maurice Benard and Grahn still have it. So, why not? While it would have been nice to see Sonny actually confess to his lifetime of crimes and spend a few months in Pentonville till he was inevitably released on a technicality, we all knew that was never going to happen.

What did happen was a pure gold moment in which Alexis thanked Sonny for almost sacrificing for her, ’cause almost is good enough, right? Sonny told Alexis he loved her. She believed it, we believed it, so why can’t we have it? (Yes, we advocated for Marty and Alexis last week, but GH is now an embarrassment of riches with men for Alexis.)

So long, Violet

While Jophielle Love is an adorable and talented young actress, Violet has no place on GH anymore. The show has completely forgotten that she has a mother who happens to be Elizabeth’s sister, and GH pretends she doesn’t exist. With Finn off the canvas and moving to Seattle, it only makes sense that his daughter joins him.

When Robin and Patrick left town, they didn’t leave Emma behind. Instead, she moved with them—as she should have—and made a few return appearances to visit her grandparents, Robert and Anna. There’s no reason why Violet can’t visit Uncle Chase and Aunt Brook Lynn on occasion, but there is no reason for her to remain in Port Charles.

Jeepers creepers

Drew is a creep. Full stop. He shared two scenes with Willow this week, and that was all it took for us to want to take out a protective order to keep Drew away from her. He is relentless, no matter how much Willow makes it clear she doesn’t want to be anywhere near him.

When Drew inevitably stalks Willow again, at least private eye Elaine is on the case and will get snaps of it all. Hopefully, a scandal will ruin Drew’s political career, as scandals are supposed to do in a normal political world. Election Day is November 5, so Elaine better get cracking.

Until next week, GH fans, let’s just enjoy our Sam while we can…

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