General Hospital Is Saying an Emotional Goodbye to a Host of Characters — and the Hardest Is Yet to Come

General Hospital lost a few characters this week, with Violet moving to Seattle to be with Finn and Marshall heading out on tour. Steven returned and is taking his mama Heather away from Port Charles and back to Arizona. Of course, the big one, who is still coming, is Sam. Finally, news broke that we may have seen the last of another long-running character.

Sam’s Goodbye Tour

This week was hard, with Sam spending most of it saying goodbye to her friends and family. Although Sam didn’t know she was saying her final farewells, we, the audience, did. And if you somehow remained spoiler-free about Sam’s departure until this week, you probably quickly figured out this surgery wouldn’t be ending with a happily ever after for all. I was hoping they’d have ripped the bandaid off, so to speak, on Friday’s episode. Instead, they are dragging this story out, which means next week is really going to be a difficult one.

I shared last week that sacrificing Sam to save Lulu would make it hard to accept a Dante-Lulu reunion. This week, the closeness of their kids was emphasized a lot, so how will this affect the family they’ve become? Also, poor Scout will have Drew and Drew alone as a parent! He’s too focused on Willow and his campaign to pay attention to her!

Sam convincing Lucas to do her surgery was like pouring salt into an open wound. Lucas just returned, and now he will be guilt-ridden over what happens to his sister while under the knife… his knife. Of course, there is speculation that Cyrus plays a part in Sam’s death, and of course, General Hospital’s own angel of death appeared out of nowhere on Friday’s episode as the surgeries were happening.

The Case of the Kissing Cousins

Holly finally told Robert the truth about Sahsa, and I have to say he was a lot more level-headed than I expected. On the other hand, Anna said this was the lowest thing she’s done and advised her to leave town as to stop hurting Robert and Sasha. At least Holly got a pot-meet-kettle shot in there, pointing out the double-agent kept Robin from Robert. Anna quickly fired back, saying that Robin was five when they met, not a twentysomething. Plus, she has lied to Sasha about her father for her entire life.

Maxie made a great point to Sasha: why would Holly lie about this? What angle could she be playing? Robert’s flashback to when he and Holly were much younger sent up a flare for me. They were discussing immigration issues and that they had to remain married for two years or until a baby came… A clue, perhaps? Is Holly somehow lying? Again, why she would lie is the issue. She seemed determined to convince Cody to leave the county on a con job.

Unfortunately, the DNA tests were in by the end of the week. As Maury Povich would say, “Robert, you are the father of Sasha!” Why General Hospital saw fit to end Sasha and Cody as a couple makes zero sense to me, as they’ve become very popular with the viewers. Over the past few months, Sasha and Cody have been the show’s bright and happy spot.

Other Characters Say Goodbye

The new writing staff is cleaning the house, as there are a lot of character exits this and next week. The week started with Violet saying goodbye to Brook Lynn, Chase, and Tracy. No, I wasn’t crying, you were! I was not expecting Violet’s departure to be so emotional, and as I said in last week’s column, hopefully, she’ll visit… a lot! Tracy gifting her mother’s tea set to Violet and Brook Lynn pointing out she was never allowed to touch it was a fun farewell. Heck, even Yuri is going to miss Violet!

Marshall was the next to be sent off on a four-month tour with Wynton Marsalis and his band. Will he be back? Or have we seen the last of Marshall? Honestly, I’m not sure many viewers will miss Marshall as much as his on-screen family will. Marshall’s farewell was also more about breaking the news to the Ashfords in a very public way that Heather Webber was going free.

I don’t think anyone was surprised when Heather was exonerated, as we’ve seen this coming for a long time. But bringing her son Steven back to whisk her away from Port Charles was an unexpected development. I am having difficulty accepting that it was so easy for Steven to convince Heather to leave Ace behind, who has been her whole world. However, this leaves the door open for future visits from Steven and Heather. Heather might be going, but Brad still has Portia’s number, so we can look forward to Heather’s presence looming over Portia’s head and potentially being her downfall.

Finally, some devastating news: Leslie Charleson may never play Monica again. This breaks my heart, but at the same time, the show can’t leave Monica off-screen and sick in her bed forever. Should the character be recast? Should she be written out? I don’t want to see them kill Monica off, not while Charleson is still alive.

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