Is That Really It for Valentin? — Plus, Is General Hospital About to Wake Up Lulu?

Credit: ABC screenshot

This week saw a significant exit on General Hospital, but is it for good? The show seems to be hinting that there could be more to Gio’s backstory than even he knows. Natalia attempted to do some damage control, and the week ended with a bit of a “talkie” episode. However, it once again left us wondering if Lulu could finally be waking up.

And Just Like That… It’s Over?

After what felt like an eternity, it would appear the Pikeman storyline is finally over. Anna gave Valentin’s satellite phone to Jason, who gave it to Cates, but not soon enough as Anna had ample time to warn Valentin. For now, it appears Valentin and Charlotte have escaped Port Charles. The whole storyline became a convoluted mess. Frankly, there seemed no good way to end it. Ending it by taking Valentin out of the picture wasn’t what many fans wanted to see, as Valentin has become such a fantastic character and a fan favorite. Valentin is just one of the many characters recently who have been turned upside down, and now he’s been sacrificed to end this storyline. Even his explanation of why he took over Pikeman when confronted by Anna stunk. “I had no reason to be a good boy anymore.” What? Not even for your daughter?

How long will Valentin and Charlotte stay gone? That’s the million-dollar question right now. I can’t believe his phone doesn’t have some remote kill switch, though it looked like Jason and Anna may have downloaded everything from his phone before he knew it was missing. Jason is right, though, and without Valentin to put in jail, Cates won’t be satisfied and isn’t going to let him go so quickly. Heck, Friday’s preview of next week spoiled that. Cates was shown telling Jason that he’s not done being his informant. Cates has become the male Natalia on the show. They’ve written him to be unlikable, pompous, and obnoxious. It seems obvious he will be hooked up with Ava because A) he’s obsessed with taking down Sonny, and B) there isn’t anyone else for him or Ava.

With Valentin having escaped, for now, we should soon find out what will become of Brennan. After Carly’s visit, some suits came to see him. Could he be turning on Valentin, tired of waiting for him to spring him from Pentonville? Or did Valentin finally come through for his friend and arrange for him to be let out? Brennan’s too good of a character to be left in Pentonville, and his chemistry with Carly is crazy good.

That Was It? A Slap?

Willow coming to talk to Nina was a great bonding moment for the two, even though it was over something so yucky. It was surprising how well Nina held it together in front of Willow as she told her about Drew. Of course, Nina gave Drew a tremendous wallop of a slap after learning what he did, but then… that was it? Drew promised it would never happen again and would not pursue Willow. Nina responded, “Okay, I’ll choose to believe you.” Why? Because Willow came to you with this huge secret, and you shared a mommy-daughter moment? Is Nina so on cloud nine that she’s just going to believe nothing more will happen between them? Please! It won’t be long before Willow runs to Nina, crying, “Oops, Mommy, I did it again!”

As noted last week, Drew and Willow’s romantic connection came out of nowhere. It only manifested to cause another rift between Willow and Nina. Nina’s finally acting sensibly, is owning her mistakes, as she did in her talk with Sonny and later Maxie, and no longer plays the perpetual victim. So sure, why not blow up Willow and Nina’s lives now that they are getting their ish together? Frankly, I don’t care what happens with dull Willow and Michael, but Drew was finally becoming a bit interesting, given the secret office fling he had going with Nina. That’s clearly over, or at least, you would think it would be. Nina and Drew oddly made the other better. Now, Drew’s just turning out to be another rotten politician.

Back to the Nineties

Natalia’s solution to Alison/Blaze being dropped by her label was for Sonny to bankroll a new independent label, and he agreed only if Brook Lynn was in charge of producing the album. This feels old school, especially given the past few weeks we’ve seen Kristina and Blaze get canceled on social media, the news broke online and spread through social media, Adrian yammered on and on about the clicks the story brought into all their websites, and Maxie brought up the impact this would have on their followers, many of who are influencers in the industry. So, why are they seemingly going old school with financing a new startup label when Blaze just needs to take her new material and post it online to get recognition? There are artists out there making careers for themselves through social media and selling their music digitally or, yes, even still through burning CDs and selling those.

Kristina and Blaze turning to Nina for help was a great scene, especially when she made Adrian grovel to them and apologize for outing them. I wish though, we got to see a bit more of Nina’s advice for them. As much as I enjoyed Nina and Sonny as a couple, this newly single and empowered Nina is a nice breath of fresh air.

Meanwhile, Sonny and Nina may have buried the hatchet, but fans still want a hatchet buried in Natalia’s back. That Sonny is so forgiving of Natalia’s homophobic remarks, which cost Blaze and Kristina so much, along with a lot of hurt and pain, makes zero sense. As I’ve said before, maybe it’s his meds being off? He’s still focused on making Ava pay for leaking the tape. However, Ava didn’t say the words that did the real damage; that was all on Natalia, and even if Ava were not in the equation, Natalia’s feelings would have come out somehow, at some point. The focus on Ava also feels like the show is trying to use this to redeem Natalia in some way.  Pay no attention to that horrible woman behind the curtain. Look at big, bad scary Ava instead!

The Scorpio-Jones Clan

There wasn’t much movement on the Cody-Mac front this week, and I sure hope this storyline isn’t sidelined again. It’s the best story the show has going on right now. Cody and Tracy’s friendship continues to shine, and her hanging out with Cody in the stables in her PJs and drinking beer was a fun scene. Of course they got interrupted by James, who came to see Cody as Grandpa Mac told him that he couldn’t take lessons from him anymore. Poor James thought maybe he had upset Cody! The scenes with James and his family were adorable. However, we all know we have to accept that soaps play with reality a lot of the time, and we have to go along with it and suspend our disbelief for the sake of the story. Having a young kid call a ride share, and the rideshare actually picking said child up and delivering him without any parental figure involved, is just too much! They might as well have had James steal his mother’s car and drive over himself. That said, watching Cody tell Sasha how much he loves James and Maxie bringing up losing her sister and how she wasn’t going to lose another sibling were such moving scenes.

Who is Gio’s Dad?

Fans have been speculating Gio’s dad is alive and in Port Charles, and it sure seems that’s the direction this story is headed after this week. Lois filled out more of the backstory on Gio and his parents when she relayed their history to Carly. We knew Gio’s mom died when he was only ten, but now we found out his father died in Afghanistan even before Gio was born, and he never knew he was having a child. And after Gio’s mom died is when suddenly Sonny was there to pay for everything. Hmmm, could Sonny be Gio’s father? Or does he know who Gio’s father is? Could it be Jason, and that’s why he’s paying for the boy? Of course, Jason already has kids he doesn’t take care of, so he doesn’t need another. Frankly, Sonny doesn’t need any more children, either. Lois suddenly wanting Gio to go back to Bensonhurt and finding him a gig there also seemed suspicious given she lobbied for him to move to Port Charles. What is she hiding?

Lulu? Earth to Lulu!

Finally, Friday’s episode had Laura and Dante visiting the comatose Lulu, talking about her kids needing her, and how they both want her to wake up. Was this simply a time filler? A way to remind us the show hasn’t forgotten about Lulu? Or dare we hope with Lucky set to return, they perhaps will finally wake Lulu up? It could also pave the way for Charlotte to return to Port Charles, with Valentin sending her home to be with her mother so she’s not living life on the run with him. Plus, the show should be building back up the Webber-Spencer family, especially in light of the exit of the Cassadines for the time being.

That’s it for my opinions on the week that was. As usual, leave your own thoughts and comments below!