GH shock faces mashup
Credit: ABC screenshots

Was this a trick question? 

They say you shouldn’t ask a question if you don’t want to hear the answer. But we suspect that when General Hospital‘s Marcus Coloma queried fans about alter ego Nikolas’ recent tryst with son Spencer’s girlfriend, he knew what he was in for.

“Just curious,” he tweeted after the scenes had aired. “When we got the scripts, we weren’t sure what the response would be. What did you guys think [of] the Nik/Esme scenes.”

As anyone who’s been watching fan reaction has probably guessed, the responses were largely — although not entirely — negative. Not toward the actors in question, but rather the scenes in general and the ruination of Nikolas in particular.

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“Soaps often throw in plots, actions that are ‘shocking,'” wrote @TexasCarly, “but as a viewer of General Hospital for 43 years, this one was a bit much for me. Nikolas is not stupid, never has been, but it made him look desperate and foolish.”

Several, much like us, assumed at first that Nikolas was simply playing the younger woman in an effort to expose her wicked ways and drive her out of Wyndemere. But as the two fell into one another’s arms, it quickly became apparent that wasn’t the cast.

Others, however, didn’t think the Cassadine heir’s actions were particularly out of line, especially given the character’s somewhat unsavory history. “I’m not shocked,” tweeted Cheryl. “Nikolas had an ongoing affair with Katherine Bell as a teen. He slept with Elizabeth, his brother’s ex-wife and fiancé, more than once. He’s a bad boy.”

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Perhaps our favorite response came from MariaElena, who chastised Nikolas by saying, “You didn’t listen to your mother! You kept defending Esme. Now your world will be turned upside [down]. Esme seduced you on Ryan’s orders. I can’t wait to see your face when she ends up pregnant and you find out Ryan is her father!”

Things took a decidedly darker turn, however, when Coloma then sent out a tweet asking about the steamy liplock which had kicked off the sex scenes.

Nikolas kisses Esme GH

As most broke out their thesauruses to look up new words for “disgusting,” some sat back and laughed.

As the debate raged on — with the vast majority of those expressing an opinion on Twitter making it clear they disapproved on the scenes — others found that the brouhaha was at least as entertaining as General Hospital itself.

Our twisted history of the Cassadine clan might help you better understand how Nikolas wound up the hot mess he sometimes is!