General Hospital Review: An Unexpected Visitor

Friends, I'm immensely relieved to report that, finally, Franco's ordeal is over. Or mostly is, at least.

Following last Friday's cliffhanger, the Franco/Jim Harvey confrontation was resolved within the first two episodes of this week.

As expected, the showdown between Franco and Jim confirmed what we'd all long expected: Jim was a sexual predator, and he'd abused Franco as a kid.

Obviously, this is a heartbreaking and awful reveal. However, I still think the writers dragged it out far past the point of interest. It felt like this story was never going to end after a while.

That said, once it did end, it ended really well.

I mentioned in last week's review that I foresaw Franco killing Harvey, condemning us all to a drawn out murder trial in which Franco would inevitably be let off the hook when the dead man's past crimes were revealed.

Amazingly, we were spared all that.

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Instead of Franco offing Jim, Drew did the honors, in defense of his former foster brother.

Roger Howarth is extremely talented – there's no denying that. His performance during the confrontation sequence at his art studio and with Kevin afterwards was stunning, raw, and emotional.

Even if you don't care for Franco, I can't imagine you didn't feel for the guy, even a little.

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I was pleasantly surprised at the way the confrontation unfolded. Rather than killing him immediately, Franco had the wherewithal to force Jim to pen a full confession, getting the child abuser to list the other kids he had preyed upon.

That was smart and selfless, as it would undoubtedly help Jim's other victims heal.

The writers also managed to write Jim's death as an inevitability by having him overpower Franco and attempt to kill him. Drew intervening by shooting Jim was a clear case of defense.

Hilariously, Drew was cleared of the crime so quickly I don't even recall seeing it happen on screen.

Of course, the story isn't exactly over just because Jim is dead. It seems that, understandably, Franco will be working through his trauma with Kevin. For however long it is until Kevin – like Laura and Scott – is given the boot. (Writers: Please do not get rid of Kevin!)

It's understandable that Franco would fear his own abuse might have made him more likely to abuse kids. But I can't say I didn't groan a little bit when Franco declined Liz's offer to go home.

I don't mind Franco as a character, and I don't particularly mind Friz. I thought, in the early stages, they had great, angsty build-up. But now, they're completely flat, and this story they're involved in is entirely unengaging.

I'm not sure where Franco and Friz can go from here. But the writers better work to revive them, stat.

Elsewhere, Anna and Jason embarked on a European adventure – with Emma! – to track down information about Henrik.

Despite Anna acting twitchy as hell, Jason still has no idea that Henrik is secretly Anna's son. I'm actually really looking forward to the eventual Peter-is-Henrik reveal and the ramifications that will be seen all over the canvas.

Finola Hughes is amazing always, so I'm excited to see the moment of recognition when she comes face to face with Peter and realizes he is her son.

I'm anticipating it will be something very dramatic, where someone (probably Jason) will be primed and ready to kill Peter and Anna steps between, declaring the truth about their connection.

Adding Robert Scorpio to the mix is a great move.

The chemistry between Tristan Rogers and Finola is a easy and flawless as ever. I laughed out loud at the moment when Anna opened the door to see Robert there, only to immediately slam it in his face before reopening. That was too funny.

Every time Robert referred to Anna as "Granny" with Emma was also golden.

Kelly Monaco was offscreen completely this week, as Sam left town with the kids to clear her head. Naturally, it was just a matter of time before she bumped into Jason.

Lo and behold, that's exactly what happened in the closing moments of Friday's episode.

That run-in was admittedly quite silly – why did Sam choose to go to Switzerland with the kids, of all places?! – but it may have been worth it just for the look on Jason's face.

Don't tell me that little surprised-but-happy smile isn't adorable. Just don't try it!

In other Jason-adjacent news, Carly continued to deal with the ramifications of Nelle's manufactured "haunting."

Nelle is a total nutter, but I've gotta admit she's doing a pretty solid job with torturing Carly.

As I mentioned last time, it's a bit mystifying that no one has put two and two together and thought about who might want to mess with Carly. But I'm willing to suspend disbelief because it's giving Carly cause for some solid introspection and a trip down memory lane.

Obviously, Nelle is using Carly's history of mental instability against her, just as Carly did with Nelle. It would be understandable for Carly and her family to think that she's just losing her mind again, as she did twice before in the instances she recounted to Griffin.

But now, Griffin received test results back showing no sign of a potential traumatic brain injury that could be causing Carly's hallucinations. Plus Carly now has tangible proof: the menu that Nelle scrawled on the back of.

Unless everyone somehow thinks Carly wrote the note to herself.

If I had to guess, I would say that Nelle's plan will start to unspool as she herself goes further and further off the rails and messes up. Already, she's getting distracted by Michael showing attention to pretty much any other female in her vicinity.

First, it was Kiki. Then, it was Francesca. Now... Maxie? Say what now?

I'm not really sure why the writers are suddenly chem-testing Michael all around town. But that was definitely a chem-test between the two of them at the birthing class, wasn't it?

I'm a little ooked out by the idea of "Mixie," largely because Michael was an 11 year old redheaded boy when I first started watching the show and Maxie was a grown woman having an affair with Lucky.

But I can't deny that Chad Duell and Kirsten Storms have natural, easy chemistry. And with Michael's SORAS-ed age, Maxie is only about six years older than him.

Listening to the two laughing together when Michael echoed the labor breathing was very cute and it felt organic. I also loved how sassy Maxie got when she basically told Nelle to shove off. And was it just me or were both Michael and Maxie disappointed when Nina showed up and was able to step in as Maxie's birthing partner?

Hmmmm...

If Mixie does develop, I can't imagine that Peter will be too happy about that. Although he denied to Valentin that he's fallen for Maxie, I think we can also safely assume that Peter is kidding himself.

Nina also brought up the idea that Maxie might be attracted to Peter, but Maxie shot that down much more believably than Peter did. I do honestly believe that Maxie isn't going to get into any romantic relationship anytime soon – I doubt anything will happen until at least after that baby is born.

Obviously, Peter has other concerns as well. For instance, Curtis and Nina are closing in on his big secret, thanks to Curtis finding a suspicious lack of information about Peter's whereabouts prior to Port Charles.

Similarly, Lulu is zeroing in on Henrik's identity... or at least trying to.

Like I've said before, I personally don't care much for Lulu. If anything, this storyline where Peter and Valentin are giving her the runaround in her search for Henrik is kind of amusing to me.

Finally, there was the matter of Mike.

As I mentioned previously, I don't care for the writers turning this powerful Alzheimer's storyline into yet another mob thing for Sonny.

Why are we rehashing the same sort of story we've seen dozens of times before when the writers could focus and make this a really powerful, emotionally honest portrayal of a terrible, life-destroying disease?

I could care less about the field where Sonny buried some body 30 years ago. But they're harping on it so much I doubt it's going away anytime soon.

I'm far more interested in what's happening with Mike, and what's happening with Mike is... not great.

After a very sweet sequence in the park with Avery and the nanny – overlaid with Sonny's conversation with Stella about Mike's condition – Mike and the toddler completely vanished.

Honestly, that nanny was pretty dumb to step away and leave Avery with Mike even for a minute to go get pretzels.

She had the wherewithal to realize she should ask Carly for permission to take Mike to the park... so why didn't she figure out that leaving the man with a little kid wasn't the best idea?

Hopefully, nothing too terrible happens to the two of them before they're found. I can't imagine what kind of hell Ava will unleash on Sonny and Carly if anything happens to Avery during a time when Ava was technically supposed to have had her.

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Other thoughts:

This is at least a week old news, but I'm really feeling Ava's new haircut/color. It looks so much better and fresher on her.

In other Ava news: AVA, STOP SNOOPING! Griffin is going to be so mad at her when he finds out.

I'm expected to believe that Jason, a grown-ass man, has no idea what his clothing size is? Carly has bought him every article of clothing throughout his adult life? Sure. OK.

Max Gail continues to kill me a little bit week after week. His performance as Mike is so heartwrenching. I broke the moment he referred to Avery as Courtney.

Josslyn is officially getting very annoying about the whole reunite-Michael-and-Nelle thing. I get that she's a teen, but this is a bit much.

Are Brad and Lucas somehow going to wind up with Nelle's baby? Can't imagine how that would happen, but why else would Brad suddenly be around so much and paling around with Nelle?