Tuesday, April 2, 2013

GH: Thoughts on the 50th Anniversary Episode

Due to the election of a new Pope, the 50th Anniversary General Hospital episode aired on Tuesday, April 2, 2013 instead of April 1. This blog entry discusses my feelings about the anniversary show.

At General Hospital, a new group of interns were being shown around the hospital. Dr. Patrick Drake (Jason Thompson) showed them around. Epiphany (Sonya Eddy) had the first line of the episode, which mirrored what Jessie Brewer (Emily McLaughlin) said back in 1963. Patrick spoke about Steve Hardy (John Bernadino) who was the Chief of Staff at General Hospital. Steve passed away in 1996, so Patrick never met him. That said Patrick's father Noah (Rick Springfield) worked for Steve and his wife Robin (Kimberly McCullough) knew him. Both Alan and Monica were mentioned as having held the job of chief of staff. Steve's wife Audrey (Rachel Ames) was at the hospital for the dedication for the 50th anniversary. A picture of Steve was to be placed in the conference room, and Audrey spent time with granddaughter Elizabeth (Rebecca Herbst). They spoke about their family and caught us up with the members who are no longer on the show like Tommy. We saw Audrey kiss Steve's picture along with a flashback to the show in black and white.

At the Quartermaine Mansion, Monica (Leslie Charleson) and Tracy (Jane Elliot) were arguing as usual. Monica decided to throw Tracy out of the mansion once and for all. During this confrontation, Monica and Tracy were stunned when they saw Alan (Stuart Damon), Emily (Natalia Livingston), and Rick (Chris Robinson). All three have died, but they all appeared in the living room. Alan and Emily wanted the women to make amends, while Rick didn't want his name dragged through the mud. (This wasn't the only reference to Rick in the episode, as he was Mr. Intern along with Monica's Miss Intern, that was spoken about in the hospital.) At the end of the episode, Tracy and Monica hugged because that is what Alan and Emily wanted. Their guests disappeared and they both wondered what happened. Perhaps Lila's relish had something in it that made them see things.

Sonny (Maurice Benard) had a guest his former wife Brenda (Vanessa Marcil), while Jax (Ingo Rademacher) went to see Carly (Laura Wright). Jax shared that their divorce hadn't gone through, and wanted to sign the papers again. Jax found this out as he was planning on getting married again, though Carly realized she wanted Jax back. Again their timing was off, though their walk down memory lane was sweet. For Laura Wright as Carly, I see Jax as the character's partner, even if I liked the character with others in the past. While Brenda shared what was in the letter that Sonny tore up without reading. She gave up on them, once she received divorce papers. That said her letter told her that she was waiting for him to join her in Rome. The former spouses also discussed Robin. Sonny and Carly were surprised to hear that Brenda and Jax were engaged again though this story will continue to the next episode.

On the Haunted Star, Laura (Genie Francis) finally met Ethan (Nathan Parsons), Luke's (Tony Geary) son with Holly. He was being held as Helena (Constance Towers) had wanted to kidnap Lucky, but he was in Africa. Laura and Ethan liked one another even if the circumstances of his conception meant that Luke cheated on Laura. She appreciated that he loved his siblings Lulu and Lucky. Helena and her henchman wanted to get them again. This ended with the cliffhanger of Helena telling Laura that she has to kill Luke.

They used the special opening credits, which began with the Autumn Breeze opening. This was the theme, that was used when I started watching GH. Hearing those notes gave me chills, and the old feelings came flooding back into my mind. The last few years have been hard to be a soap fan (as even with All My Children and One Life to Live, returning online this time of years reminds me of both As the World Turns, who was born 57 years ago today, and Guiding Light which was cancelled on 4 years ago on April 1st.) Today though wasn't a day for sad tears, but ones of happiness as GH celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Before they showed highlights for the next episode, the following text appeared on screen. "Happy 50th Anniversary General Hospital. Thank you to all of our fans for your decades of support!"Below is the image of that was shown from head writer Ron Carlivati's twitter account.

That's the kind of message that as an audience member I appreciate. Some of us have been watching for a long time, and it was nice to be acknowledged.

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