The General Hospital Story That Needs To End Immediately, If Not Sooner — Plus, the Plot Point the Show Should Never, Ever Break Out Again
Been there, fell off of that.
As a rule, we tend to encourage fans to let storylines play out rather than urge that they be rushed to a conclusion. Whether it’s babies being swapped, secrets being kept or mysteries being solved, we tend to think it’s better to play the beats than jump to the happy ending. Sometimes, however, even we find our patience pushed beyond the breaking point.
Take, for example, General Hospital‘s Peter story. There have been at least three separate occasions on which we assumed that the writers were building to a murder mystery. After all, nearly everyone in Port Charles has reason to want the guy dead. Name a character, and we can probably provide them with a motive for doing away with the baddie.
Yet each time, Peter somehow escapes the executioner’s hatchet, returning like the proverbial bad penny. Not to put too fine a point on it, but fans are over the storyline and, if we’re being honest, so are we. Much as we enjoy a good villain, it turns out that for whatever reason, Peter falls far short of the standards set by, say, Bold & Beautiful‘s Sheila, Days of Our Lives‘ Stefano or even his own General Hospital‘s pop, Faison.
Above: Sorry, Peter, but you’re not in their league.
Credit: Howard Wise/JPI, Paul Skipper/JPI (2), CBS/Courtesy of the Everett Collection
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This has nothing to do with Peter’s portrayer, Wes Ramsey, and everything to do with the story, its pacing and how his alter ego’s actions have impacted other characters. Beloved Port Charles residents like Anna and Maxie have been made to look dumb in order to facilitate his antics. Franco was killed — and with him a couple the show had worked hard to establish — with no discernible payoff.
So yes, it’s time for Peter go… and his can’t be a typical soap death. We need — and fans deserve for there to be — a body. Julian and Franco can’t be the only characters in recent Port Charles history to die-die, especially not when each was arguably more popular than Peter. So no presumed death.
Above: Step right up, don’t be shy… take your best shot! Take a few, if necessary to get the job well and truly done.
Credit: ABC, Chris D/JPI, Jill Johnson/JPI (4), ABC screenshot
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That means the show has to avoid what has become its favorite trick over the past few years: having someone fall off a bridge or cliff and be presumed dead only to reappear days, weeks or even years later. On a per capita rate, a ridiculous number of this small town’s inhabitants have fallen off of bridges, even when compared to other soap towns. Sam, Sonny, Drew, Ava, Ryan…
You get the picture.
That, in a nutshell, is our current wish list for General Hospital: That Peter pay the piper (for realsies) and that his demise not involving winding up under an overpass. There are, after all, a million ways to die… and, as the gallery below indicates, nearly as many people willing to help usher Peter to the Pearly Gates. Heck, so many locals want to decrease the population by one that we had to update and expand our suspect list! Check it out, then let us know who you think might finally — finally! — be the one to help Peter into an anything-but-early grave.
