GENERAL HOSPITAL February 2023 Discussion Thread

[Faulkner]

Laura definitely needs more than one child (or zero) on the canvas. I’d love to see JJ and NAC in scenes together. (But not if it’s just a smugfest lol.)

[Taoboi]

I have not. I will have to go and see. 

Definitely.

[titan1978]

I really appreciated that almost throwaway line of Laura’s about leaving Nikolas on the island as a baby.  To me, that storyline reveal has been the defining moment for Laura since the couple returned in 1993.  The fact that it can still bring her to that much pain and her guilt still comes up was the kind of human stuff soaps used to be all about.

And this is absolutely who Nikolas is now.  It’s been a downward slope for over a decade to get him where he is now.  My only issue is if this is his death, it further complicates Ava for me as a viewer, and I already have to ignore her past to buy her onscreen.  What Nikolas said to her was disgusting, but her actions should have repercussions.  And we know unless Maura wants to leave she probably has a job at GH until she no longer wants it.

[Vee]

Nikolas said awful things to Ava, but Ava has done just as many awful things if not far worse (Connie). They are deeply toxic and made for each other, and I'm not some big shipper. You could let those two and their chaos run for years with the right actor for Nikolas and the right stories. Roger Howarth and Maura have had chemistry since her first days onscreen with her opposite bleach blond Franco where they crackled together despite his idiotic return, but it's too late to put them together now. Dr. Austin is a boring nice guy. We've seen Ava with boring nice men - I sat through some of the Griffin debacle. What are their stories supposed to be? Ava is a villain or at the very least a dark antiheroine. So that's all to say that yes, they should recast Nik sooner than later.

As for Spencer, I think he is definitely smug but that's always been part of his personality since Nicolas Bechtel. He is smug and he is absolutely doing the Cassadine thing to his father with this very stupid custody scheme, just as Laura said the other day. He is reveling in it the same way Nikolas sometimes does. He's more sympathetic and more of a 'good' character atm, but he's not all good - this aspect of him is just who he is, too.

[Vee]

The Chase/BLQ storyline is so dumb yet at the same time is giving exactly the same kind of coked-up, neon-drenched energy as dozens of other pop star/singing storylines on soaps in the '80s and '90s. A skeezy producer! A cop or other hero 'forced' to sing! A secret and wholly unnecessary Scooby Gang plan in which a bunch of young people plot like the Goonies to 'get' this recurring bad guy who is just happy to not be waiting tables in Santa Monica anymore! Other assorted hapless recurring players all built around this silly story! It's giving me distinct "Lujack is a pop star, no really" vibes from '80s GL and a bit of the legendary Danny Romalotti and Friends musical capers from Y&R, or Ricky Paull Goldin's silly stuff on AW. It's dumb and I don't really care about Chase or his romance with Brook at all, but I can't be mad at the story bc it's a pretty classic daytime chestnut, however lame the execution. And I do think the Dr. Luke/Kesha/Scooter Braun/T-Swift parallels are very relevant, and could be made use of in a much better storyline.

[titan1978]

I do not believe Austin agreeing to cover for this at all, unless we have decided to make his character into a villain.  There is not enough of a relationship with Ava or any history to support this turn.  

If this is it I am truly disappointed that this is how they decided to kill off Nikolas.  Even if I doubt this is the last we have seen of him.

[Vee]

Didn't Austin's adopted family turn out to be deep in the underworld, and he's supposed to be in with them for some criminal shít? If the Gatlins(?) turns out to be like some sort of Ozark backwoods deal that could be interesting or at least give Howarth something more to play besides 'nice doctor on TV show because Frank is still not over Roger slipping through his fingers to CBS 20 years ago'. That being said, it would still be a story centered around Roger Howarth #3 and some recurring players. Unless they reveal Austin Gatlin-Holt is in fact a closet backwoods underworld psychopath and play that out accordingly (leading to his eventual exit), I am not super interested.

[Forever8]

I think the issue of this story is that in reality the Q's, Lois, or Sonny would've gotten Linc to sign over Brook Lynn songs back to her by legal/illegal means. 

The story is beyond terrible and has been going for far too long. It seems Chris and Dan, Dan and Chris aren't sure what to do with Chase and Brook Lynn and other certain characters on canvas. 

[dragonflies]

 

[Liberty City]

FINALLY watching yesterday's episode after it didn't air for me! Excited!

[Darn]

Holy shît, Spencer and Trina made the cover! THEY'RE NOT EVEN A REAL COUPLE (YET).

It's really effin' WILD that out of all of the extremely popular couples/supercouples that GH has had (and they have had numerous) that they made the cover. This is great but I swear if I have to file for social security before they kiss. I will lose my mind, take the first flight to LA, find Frank Whatthefuckareyoudoingtini and smack him.

I honestly think we all collectively manifested the characters featured on that cover lmao. Luke & Laura, Spencer and Trina and a GIANT picture of Rebecca Herbst all by herself. Well fücking deserved. If the show isn't going to recognize at least SOMEONE did.

Of course Sonny had to be squeezed in there and he was, using a picture from a time when he was actually interesting. And we got Brenda @carolineg!

[Vee]

That is pretty huge for a couple the show is still scared shitless of.

Probably, but it's far from the first time contrivances have prevented that with similar characters in similar stories on soaps. I do think the entire Chase vortex is boring as hell.

[AbcNbc247]

Jeez, People has more respect for Becky Herbst than the show does 

[carolineg]

Lol!  I think whoever People's photo editor(s) is for this is a secret Sonny and Brenda shipper.  They were on the 50th too and Carly and Jason aren't in sight.  At least Becky/Liz deserves to be on the cover.  On the 50th there was a big random pic of ASJ/Jagger shirtless for no apparent reason lol.

[dragonflies]

To be fair, S&B were HUGELY popular in the 90s, one of the biggest couples on the show in years