Charlie Mason
Thursday, January 4th, 2024
Credit: ABC (6), ABC screenshot, Jill Johnson/JPI
General Hospital is kicking off 2024 with aftershocks galore. As Nina scrambles to recover from her big S-E-C-R-E-T coming out, it’s not only her relationship that is suddenly hella shaky. Carly and Drew’s romance and Michael and Willow’s marriage are also turned upside-down. Elsewhere on the canvas, Soap Opera Digest reports that old flames may reignite, new love may blossom and sworn enemies may become the strangest of bedfellows. Read on to find out who’ll be doing what to — or with — whom!
Farewell, Bobbie
The episodes in which General Hospital pays tribute to Bobbie Spencer and her late portrayer Jacklyn Zeman won’t just be steeped in emotion, they’ll also be drenched in intrigue. There’s “a special story that we will be telling,” headwriters Dan O’Connor and Chris Van Etten tell the magazine, “when a surprise visitor attends the funeral and raises some questions about Bobbie’s past and present and Port Charles’ future.”
The Odd Couple
We’ve been dying for a rematch between Avery’s parents for years, and now maybe we’re getting one. “For her own protection, Ava and Sonny are forced to share a home together,” the writers say. Given their history, “they do not trust each other. But now that they’re to be uneasy allies, we will see a different spin on the two’s dynamic.”
Headed for Splitsville?
Is Nina, ironically, going to doom another of Carly’s relationships? Could be, considering that the reveal that she ratted out the lovers to the SEC will leave them at an impasse. “Carly and Drew want to handle the fallout… in very different ways… Their conflicting ideas of what comes next are not going to make it easy for them.”
‘Shall We Carpool to Splitsville?’
Also on the outs will be Michael and Willow. Though she’s ticked at her mother, she’s arguably even angrier with her husband. She “feels betrayed by Michael’s lies, that not only has he known [Nina was the whistleblower] for quite some time, but he leveraged it to sabotage Willow’s relationship with Nina… So is there a path towards forgiveness, or is this the end of them?”
Down But Not Out
For a while now, it’s seemed like Anna can’t catch a break. But the new year may have one in store for her — a biggun, even, In 2024, Van Etten and O’Connor promise, “she’ll take steps to assume her role as one of the leading heroines of Port Charles.” Just don’t hold out too much hope for her and Valentin. Their relationship in the immediate future remains “extremely complicated.”
Seems Like Old Times
Not making matters any simpler for “Vanna” will be the fact that Valentin is spending an awful lot of time with his lost love, Nina. The exes “are in desperate need of allies, and the two of them seek comfort and advice in each other, and everybody knows nothing too genuine and pure can come out of Valentin and Nina scheming together again!”
On the Other Hand…
At the same time, Nina will be fighting tooth and nail to keep her marriage to Sonny from going swimming with the fishes. “And Sonny will find it difficult to simply let go,” add O’Connor and Van Etten. “He’ll have a number of conflicting impulses; among them are his still-present feelings for Nina, which would be pitted against his longstanding history of holding people to account for disloyalty.”
Au Revoir
General Hospital has planned for Spencer and Trina a romantic getaway — and a less-than-romantic problem. Their only chance of solving it may be if Esme decides that she prefers to remain the person that she’s become rather than go back to being the vile schemer who made Mommy and Daddy so proud.
A Matter of Life and Death
An experimental procedure could put Curtis back on his feet — or six feet under. As he performs a risk/benefit analysis, “Portia is torn between her concerns as a doctor and a spouse.” Meanwhile, as Jordan investigates her ex-husband’s shooting, “she will enlist a very unlikely ally…and sparks could fly.“
Parental Guidance Suggested
Though things will be going both hunkily and dorily romantically speaking for Dante and Sam, their relationship won’t be a never-ending smoochfest. Raising two teenagers in one house is going to present them with challenges the likes of which they’ve never faced before.
Blowup in Three, Two…
Never mind how much Maxie and Spinelli may be enjoying cohabitating. The secret that he only moved in under false pretenses is a ticking time bomb that’s destined to…well, do what ticking time bombs always do.
Cuteness Overload
Speaking of “Spixie,” playing matchmaker for the former non-marrieds may be just the thing to force Cody and Sasha to go beyond acknowledging their feelings for one another to act on them.
In Too Deep
“Perks” of working for Sonny include being shot at a lot, having an incredibly mercurial boss and now, Dex will discover, being given an assignment that “crosses a line that he can’t come back from.” Will he find that Josslyn is still there on the other side of it?
Hearts Ablaze
As Kristina tries to figure out how to date closeted Blaze, mom Alexis’ worries about her arrangement with Molly and TJ. The former attorney “sees some dark storm clouds on the horizon, the least of which is the complicated legal matter of the situation in New York state.”
In Other Developments…
Tracy and Gregory grow closer, Brook Lynn and Chase plan their wedding, Lois and Olivia try to fix what’s broken, Lucy weaponizes Scott to take back Deception, Felicia’s detective skills may lead to a secret being revealed, and Sonny, of all things, may inadvertently bring Robert and Diane closer.