General Hospital Sets Up Michael’s Exit Along With the Perfect Way to Deal With Drew — Plus, Saying Goodbye to Monica

Credit: ABC screenshots/ABC Disney

This week, General Hospital set the stage for not one but two exits, though the second may not have been intentional. We are getting closer to saying so long to Cyrus, and Jason seems to be becoming a new man in front of our eyes. Plus, what to do about the most hated man in Port Charles, Drew!

Lucky and Liz On the Case

Isaiah and Lucas guessed that Michael had been given digitalis and saved him, while Lucky and Joss compared notes on Cyrus. It didn’t take long for Lucky, Liz and Lucas to deduce that Cyrus was their digitalis killer — they just can’t prove it and haven’t figured out how to tie the victims together. Liz’s elderly sick patient Sylvie is the real mystery, and we don’t yet know if Cyrus killed her. If you take her out of the equation, everyone else is somehow connected to Sonny, which could be what this is all about.

Unfortunately, Joss and her big mouth, accusing Cyrus of killing Dex and demanding Anna arrest him, has tipped the baddie off that they may be onto him. Joss gives me a headache half the time she’s on screen, but I loved Anna’s way of informing her she probably just blew any chance at nailing Cyrus for this. So we are back to the idea I tossed out last week, that Joss may use Dex’s gun to kill Cyrus.

Why the hospital hasn’t gone to the PCPD about the digitalis killings yet makes no sense, but it’s not like the PCPD is ever that useful. Also, Portia once again mentioned they needed to check the cameras, yet again, there seemed to be no follow-through. Likely, though, they’ll only see a disguised Cyrus and not get a good look at him. However, he wasn’t in scrubs when he unhooked Lulu’s machines!

On the bright side, this should clear Liz and allow her to go back to work. Still, it’s time to wrap this storyline up and give the viewers some answers. It looks like it’s up to Liz and Lucky to do just that, but I’m not holding my breath that those answers will make much sense.

The Sad Tale of Willow

Within a week, many characters have gone from loathing Willow to feeling sorry for her, believing Drew, the evil and selfish mastermind, manipulated her. Basically, it has come down to, “Poor Willow, that girl can’t think for herself and needs a man to tell her what to do.” This is a far cry from the schoolteacher who stood up to Nina and Valentin, the Willow I enjoyed.

However, even Willow has begun to see the light after a talk with Chase, that she’s been jumping from savior to savior, as Joss told her. Dare we hope she is turning a corner, realizing Drew has been guiding her, and she might break this pattern? If so, there may be a shot for her to get some of her self-respect and self-worth back.

Calling Carly and Sonny, allowing them to see Michael, and discussing his treatment options together was a great first step in freeing Willow from Drew’s mind control. Seeing them acting like adults rather than screaming at one another was nice. One of the most shocking things about this storyline, as noted by many viewers, is that Nina has been the one voice of reason in all of this. Now if Nina would just listen to Ava and rip the band-aid off and tell Willow what her “hero” had been up to with her mother.

By the end of the week, Michael had been woken up, and they decided to let him decide where he wished to go for treatment. It’s obvious he will be sent to the clinic in Germany to explain his absence from the show.

What to Do About Drew?

Many viewers have been hoping Drew will be Cyrus’ next victim. Right now, the setup is perfect for a “Who tried to kill Drew?” story. Nobody except for Willow seems to like the guy right now, and even she’s starting to wise up a little. As Jordan pointed out to him, Drew’s digging himself a bigger hole every day, and if he doesn’t start mending fences, he’s going to be alone. Even Tracy told Sonny, the “don of the East Coast,” to take care of Drew accordingly. I don’t see them killing the character off (again), but they have everything in place for an attempt on his life. Here’s how I’d write it!

With pretty much everyone in town hating Drew, someone inevitably shoots him. Drew ends up at General Hospital and is in critical condition but alive. That’s when someone slips him digitalis. However, the doctors, just like with Michael, save him. The clincher? Hoping to get away with it, someone used Cyrus’ MO, believing that Drew would just be lumped in with the other killings and attempts. The second twist? The person who shot Drew is not the same one who injected him! I’d also make at least one of the would-be killers Willow.

Hear me out! Realizing her pattern of needing to be saved, which started with Dawn of Day, and how she’s destroyed her happy home and family, Willow snaps, begins to be haunted by Nelle (something I suggested last week) and shoots Drew. However, she doesn’t remember doing it because she was in a state of psychosis! She’ll end up spending time in the mental hospital for a bit and come back as good as new. The second would-be killer heads to Pentonville. That one, well, they could be anyone in town. Take your pick!

Preparing to Say Goodbye

The day after the news broke that Leslie Charleson had died, Monday’s episode had Tracy lamenting to Stella how worried she was about Monica’s health and that she seemed to be slowly slipping away and losing that spark in her. Stella even advised Tracy might have to step up to guide the family as the new matriarch. The timing of the episode was very eerie. The show seemed to be laying the groundwork for Monica dying from a broken heart.

The talk of Monica continued with Tracy blasting both Sonny and Carly for destroying her life by killing A.J. and taking Michael from the family. Tracy was a powerhouse this week, yet it still sadly feels like the writers were beginning to figure out how to deal with Monica’s situation and that we haven’t seen her since December 2023. Unless they speak out, we won’t know what brought upon these scenes, but over on Days of Our Lives, the late Drake Hogestyn, who passed from cancer, gave the show permission to deal with his character John Black’s death even before he died.

Tracy Gets Her Comeuppance!

As much as I’ve enjoyed Tracy lately, one thing didn’t sit right with me, nor a lot of viewers, and that was Tracy deciding to keep Wiley and Amelia from Willow. Tracy said she was doing it for Monica but had no legal right to those children. So I can’t say I wasn’t happy to see the PCPD do their job for once, enforce the law and arrest Tracy. Well, Drew had Tracy arrested, but she didn’t help herself by not complying and handing over the kids per Martin’s court order. This is going to up the family battle between Tracy and Drew for sure. Now, where is that tape of Michael’s showing what Drew and Willow did in the nursery…

A New Jason?

Jason has surprised me lately and in a good way. First, he set aside his differences with Drew to move into the Quartermaine mansion and keep Sam’s kids together. Then he turned down Sonny’s offer to take over his business, stating he had to consider Danny’s safety above all else. Finally, he sided with Tracy regarding Willow’s kids, refusing to take them out of Monica’s house. Wow! Not only did Tracy tell him he made his father proud, but they hugged, and Jason does not hug!

While the show has long said there was no hope of Jason getting his earlier memories back due to the part of his brain that was damaged in the accident, medicine has come a long way since then. I’d love to see even the slightest crack in his brain and just a few memories come through. When the time comes, it would be a nice way to honor and send off Monica if he could have some pre-Jason Morgan memories of her.

Final Thoughts

Not only did the show ruin one of the best things they had going with Sasha and Cody, but now they’ve had him backslide and end up gambling and likely in cahoots with Selina Wu again, especially since he doesn’t have all the money to pay her back. While I love seeing Selina back, turning Cody back into a numskull is not what I want to watch. Also, what bet did he make with $50k that he thought would get him the millions he needed to buy Serenity?

I still have no interest in Kai and Trina, and they had the perfect opportunity to ship him off to the NFL through the draft. Thanks to his injury, he’s sticking around to finish his senior year at PCU.

Enough of Lulu’s bad attitude and blame game! And now she wants to go to work at Deception with Maxie and Brook Lynn. Oh lord!

While Brook Lynn was detailing her teen pregnancy to Dr. Navarro, Dante and Cody were talking about how enamored Dante was with Brook Lynn back during their camp days. We get it! They are Gio’s parents, so just get along with this ret-conned story and stop beating around the bush.

That’s it for my thoughts, opinions and predictions for this week. As always, leave yours in the comments below!