GH: Rafe is Dead

Last week, Rafe (Jimmy Deshler) died on General Hospital. Below are my thoughts on this development.

Rafe came to Port Charles due to his mother Alison. Sadly as part of that story, Alison was murdered. (I wrote about my issues with that at the time.) Now Rafe has passed away due to a head injury. He was driving too quickly and hit a barricade. Molly (Haley Pullos) was in the passenger's seat, and was hospitalized, but she'll recover. She remembered how Rafe confessed to the accident, which caused the premature birth of baby Gabriel, who didn't survive. Molly also knew that Rafe was told to drive them off the road.

Rafe's death caused Sam (Kelly Monaco) and Silas (Michael Easton) to have conflict in their relationship. Sam believed that Patrick (Jason Thompson) wasn't responsible for Rafe's unsuccessful surgery, but needed proof. Silas's wife Nina (Michelle Stafford) tried to take advantage of the situation though if she hadn't paid off Rafe to keep quiet the accident may never have happened. Nina had guilt to an extent, and imagined that Rafe was alive.

The program included a scene with Rafe's loved ones as Silas pulled the plug. The scene was well done, and more than some characters got who had a lot more history with GH. Since Rafe couldn't donate his organs as he tested positive for heroin, I don't get the point of his death. Rafe could have been sent away to rehab or school outside of Port Charles.

I feel like the character was wasted for a story that ended before it began. Basically, Rafe caused Molly and TJ to be apart and TJ slept with another girl named Taylor. (We haven't seen her in forever, but she's Felix's younger sister.) Later when Molly was ready to sleep with TJ, Rafe told Molly's mom, who interrupted them before they had sex. Molly obviously resented Rafe after that, but she wanted to help him once she found out from TJ that Rafe was using drugs.

This death felt like a bump in the road to postpone the reveal of who was behind the car accident. (Pardon the pun.) It also perhaps made them an addict to show how awful Fake Luke is for bringing drugs into the city.