This past week, bullets rang out in Port Charles. Unlike most shoot outs on General Hospital this one involved people who were not members of the mob.
Warren Bauer played by former Guiding Light performer, Bradley Cole (Richard Winslow and later Jeffrey O'Neill), was the father of Kristina's former boyfriend Kiefer Bauer. And yes with that name, one would figure someone on the staff of General Hospital is a fan of the show 24. Kristina was abused by Kiefer and didn’t tell the truth about it. She blamed Ethan, as he was the son of Luke, who is one of her father Sonny's friends.
The irony of course is that Kiefer still ended up dead. Instead of being killed by Kristina's mob boss father, he was run over by Kristina's mother Alexis. With Alexis having already killed someone, and being a Cassadine, this should not have been surprising. The Cassadines are not exactly salt of the earth. Most of the family has had their bouts with insanity and some have even tried for world domination. When emotionally bereft, Alexis killed her younger sister's killer. Kristina at her young age drove her stepmother Claudia off the road and caused her to miscarry.
For months, Kiefer and Kristina had dated. Everyone except for Kristina's brother Michael thought he was a good guy. Some people thought Kiefer was crazy for getting involved with Kristina due to her messed up family. Kiefer convinced Kristina to sleep with him and was extremely possessive of her. Her crush on Ethan and skipping out on time with Kiefer is what ultimately made him snap, which sent Kristina to the hospital. Before when Kiefer hit Kristina while bruised, she could hide it. On that occasion, he beat her, and not just slapped her once. The second time when Alexis found out was after Kiefer again injured Kristina enough to send her to the hospital.
Kiefer was rushed to the hospital for the injuries sustained due to being hit by Alexis; we met his parents Warren and Melinda Bauer. Both were upstanding members of the community. Losing their son caused Warren to lose his mind.
Though one must admit, that later it seemed like GH backpedaled and made it seem that Warren was always abusive to Kiefer. Yes his parents wanted the best for him, and were intent on him on doing well at school, but nothing implied that he was a child of abuse. For whatever reason the show changed his background story. To what end I am not sure, as Kiefer was dead. Having this change didn't change the fact he was dead and it didn't make me feel any true sympathy for him. Being an abused child didn't erase the awful things he did. He could have broken the cycle and not been like his father.
Anyway, at the end of Thursday's show, which was replayed on Friday, Warren started shooting in a room full of people in the hospital. He had a warrant for Kristina's medical records as he was suing the Davis family for Kiefer's death in civil court. Nikolas tried to buy Warren off and make his life difficult, but he persisted. Everyone stood up for Kristina after Warren threatened her at the hospital to tell the truth. Of course, Warren's truth was a lie that Kiefer wasn't abusive. Michael stepped in and they got into it. Mac and Lucky both looked the other way even if they should have arrested both men for fighting.
After the fight ended and everyone disbanded, Warren lost it completely. He had taken a gun with him to the hospital. Once he got near the nurses station hub he pulled it out and began to shoot. He hit Mac the police commissioner who has an on/off thing with Alexis and Ethan who again was a victim of Kristina's issues. Before Mac fell completely he shot twice and hit Warren in the back. These wounds proved to be fatal, but before he died we were given a two second scene with Warren and Carly. Since Carly and Warren interacted quickly once before as Warren was a business associate of Jax, it made sense that she did. Actually it really didn't have to as Laura Wright played Brad Cole's wife on Guiding Light, and other than another brief scene they barely interacted.
I find it amusing that when Brad Cole was brought to GH, he played a character that went crazy and shot up the hospital. When Martha Byrne (best known as Lily on As the World Turns), took a short-term turn, she was a murderer. I wonder if the people at the program find it funny casting actors best known for their work on a P&G show to play bad guys. At the end of the day, work is work, so if paying a heavy pays the bills, I don’t begrudge a person taking that kind of role. I think it is smart for General Hospital to bring in performers for short-term single arc stories who are known for their work on other soap operas as perhaps it will get some new eyes to check out the program.
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