William deVry: His Derek Wells is really dead mob boss Julian Jerome (ABC photo)
By Marlena De Lacroix a.k.a. Connie Passalacqua Hayman
It’s traditional for a soap presents its strongest stories during sweeps, and this November hasn’t been a disappointment on General Hospital. Au contraire, the month isn’t over yet. To paraphrase Bette Davis in All About Eve: “Fasten your seatbelts, it’s going to be a bumpy 30 days.”
The opening of the Jerome art gallery, with its hilarious “BLT” painting supposedly by Franco, was the site of the denouement of two longtime plots. It was a messy confluence, but got a lot done story-wise. In one, Sonny revealed that Derek Wells (William deVry) is really dead mob boss Julian Jerome, the brother of Ava and the co-owner of the art gallery. In the other, Sonny wanted to kill Julian for ripping off a shipment but during the sequence decided that he couldn’t because Julian is needed for future leukemia transplant treatments for Danny. The reveal was a bit underwhelming as deVry played it way too cool, and there were really no consequences for the Julian character. At least, Sam found out who her biological father was.
There’s more: The gallery was also the backdrop for the revelation that Franco isn’t Jason’s twin brother after all but the natural child of Heather Webber and Scotty Baldwin. This new “fact” didn’t exactly make sense because Franco would have been conceived when both mother and father were on the soap canvas in the early 80s, but we never saw them get together. Also the ages didn’t match. Roger Howarth, who plays Franco is 45, Robin Mattson is 57 and Kin Shriner is 60. Even so, this parentage would explain Franco’s strange and colorful personality.
And more: The courtroom was the backdrop for the resolution of the Baby Connie custody hearing. Lulu and Dante wanted to keep their daughter, who really biologically belongs to Maxie and Spinelli. In a unique twist, custody of the child was awarded to Spinelli, with Maxie banned from seeing the infant for six months. The scene in which Lulu and Dante had to hand Connie over to Spinelli was just heartbreaking.
We’re not finished yet: The big news was that Robin was alive after all, having spent the last two months on screen lurking about behind the scenes — first, inventing a cure for Luke on Cassadine Island and second, wandering around Port Charles having near run-ins with her “surviving” husband Patrick and his fiancé Sabrina. At one point, Sabrina’s ex Carlos even discovered Robin as alive.
And finally: On Friday, Robin had a face to face reunion with her father Robert, in a back room in the church where Patrick is about to marry Sabrina. The reveal to Patrick that Robin is still alive should take place this week, probably during the wedding ceremony. It should be explosive, just another exciting story event.
A bumpy 30 days indeed!
