All – Well, Some of – GH’s Children

Remember that Mother Goose nursery rhyme about the old woman with too many children? Seems General Hospital is running into the same problem. Children – ranging in age from grade school to high school – pop in and either disappear or have aborted storylines.


Viewers Do Pay Attention

Most GH fans are quite attuned to the show’s dialogue and are able to connect – or notice a disconnect in – the dots. On May 2 we watched the “Take your child to work” episode, as two of Maxie Jones’ three children were at the Quartermaine mansion watching their mom give Brook Lynn a screen test. However, a few things were amiss:

 When the whereabouts of Maxie’s youngest child, Bailey Lou, were questioned, Maxie replied that she was with Grandma Felicia and had been a holy terror (not surprising, considering she was fathered by Peter August). Later, Felicia shows up at the hospital to tend to some business – without the baby. Was little Bailey Lou with Grandpa Mac off camera?
 Prior to leaving the hospital, Willow mentioned that Wiley had been throwing up. He must have recovered, because in that same episode he was happily playing at the mansion, and I believe Georgie reported that he and James were eating hay.
 Where was Leo? I would think if anyone would be playing with the kids at the Quartermaine abode, it would be the one who actually is a Quartermaine.
 Why was Tracy so rude to Luke’s grandson Aiden?

While GH does have a number of talented young players, the show needs to give some of them more airtime and further developed storylines.


Hey There, Georgie Girl!

Now that Maxie’s eldest child is a teenager, she should show up a lot more, especially since her parents are potentially together again. It seems the Georgie we saw last week was a temporary recast. I hate to say this, but because of the character’s sparse airtime, I had not noticed.

Elizabeth’s Other Son Back in the Spotlight?

I thought Aiden Webber looked slightly different in the May 2 episode, and then I read online that the character has had a permanent recast – for the eighth time. I am hoping that Aiden — whose sweetness and sensitivity have always appealed to me — is coming back into the spotlight. When he was younger, he was bullied by Charlotte Cassadine and other classmates because of his love of baking and other unmasculine things. The May1 episode hinted at Aiden – who used to mention a potential boyfriend — facing bullying once again.

No Shrinking Violet

Violet Finn has been one of the youngsters with a more prominent GH presence, being integral in her grandfather’s ALS storyline. Though spunky Violet brings out such warmth in Finn and plays well with Grandpa Gregory and Uncle Chase, I must say that I miss the connection she had with her mom, Hayden Barnes, who for the first few years of her life was the only parent she knew. I don’t know whether GH plans to resurrect Hayden, but it seems so weird to me that Violet adjusted as well as she did when her mother disappeared; Hayden is never mentioned, much like Trina abandoned Taggert, the man who raised her, when she found out Curtis is her dad.


History Rewritten, Then Forgotten

Charlotte Cassadine had front-burner storylines for a long time while both her biological parents were on the scene. Later she faded into the background and was eventually recast in order to age the character; however, the recast seemed to radically change the character’s personality.

Suddenly Charlotte was so sweet and timid, and when Valentine and Anna were together hiding from Victor, Charlotte expressed her love and gratitude toward Anna and told off Grandpa Victor when she ran into him. And following yet another recast of the character (for only one episode), Charlotte told her father that she hated her grandfather. When the original Charlotte returned, everything changed. Suddenly the grandfather Charlotte claimed to hate became her guide, and Anna was the hated one.

Charlotte disappeared again; while I know this was because of the actress’s surgery, why couldn’t there be a temporary recast? We heard, off camera, that Charlotte got community service for trashing Anna’s hotel, but now her dad says that she went back to the boarding school where her grandfather had sent her. Did she even serve any of her community service? Also, now Valentine wants to get it on with Anna once again since his troubled daughter is away. Oy.

On a Cheerful Note…

It was a joy to see all the kids playing with Cody. He seems to be one of the more kid-friendly characters.


What do you think? Your comments and opinions are welcome.