Season 54 | Episodes 42–45 | Aired May 31–Jun 3, 2016

While viewers are used to the action happening on-screen, it’d be impossible not to acknowledge all of the off-screen happenings surrounding General Hospital these days. First came news that Tyler Christopher (Nikolas) is taking time off and will be temporarily replaced by Nick Stabile. Next up was word that Kirsten Storms’s Maxie is taking leave and will be temporarily recast by Days of Our Lives’ Molly Burnett. One Life to Live’s Bree Williamson is joining the cast as Claudette. Ingo Rademacher is returning this summer as Jasper “Jax” Jacks and Bradford Anderson’s Spinelli is showing up next week. Finola Hughes is taking the summer off from Anna Devane and her endless grief. And just this week, soap vet Robin Riker sauntered into Port Charles as Hayden/Rachel’s mother, Naomi.

And if that’s not enough off-screen action, this shortened holiday week wasn’t exactly light with the on-screen action either. Let’s start with the bizarre events that now have Sonny and Ava co-parenting without judicial intervention. When Ava realizes Sonny knows about her kinky sex tape with Paul, she offers up shared custody. Sonny, for his part, goes on a tear about Ava having murdered Connie, ironically never mentioning his own murder of A.J. Ava, forgetting she has two children, says that Avery is her only reason for living and challenges Sonny to either share custody or kill Ava. Sonny reluctantly agrees to share custody, but promises that Avery will know all the facts of her mother’s life and thinks when Avery is old enough to decide, she will probably shun Ava. Uh, Sonny, careful what you wish for, as the information highway isn’t exactly in your favor, either.

Carly is baffled to see Sonny and Ava’s tentative arrangement in action, thinking she had bested Ava by procuring the sex video. Sonny rationalizes that keeping Michael from A.J. backfired when A.J. showed up alive and “rewrote” history. The whole conversation, along with Sonny’s propping of Carly as a perfect mother, is borderline infuriating. Let’s face it, Sonny and Ava both have massive flaws, and both show more interest in hurting each other than caring for their daughter.

Avery isn’t the only child with parental issues this week, as Tracy dug her heels in when Sabrina attempted to see her baby. It turns out that Tracy’s issue wasn’t Sabrina having the baby anonymously dropped on the Quartermaine doorstep, but more about her friend Sabrina being a lousy friend. Sabrina didn’t come to Tracy when she was in trouble with Carlos. Sabrina wasn’t around when Tracy was sick. But what Sabrina did do was name her son Eduardo, after Edward Quartermaine. And just like that, Tracy’s heart melts again.

Obrecht’s sole purpose in life is apparently to harass and investigate Finn. She’ll tell anyone who will listen that she believes Finn murdered his two elderly patients and tried to kill Lucas. Of course, the only information she is armed with is rumors of drug use at his old hospital and an intense personal dislike. Monica is seemingly torn between asking questions of Finn and wanting to ignore Obrecht completely. Carly is less adverse to asking Finn for information, calling him out on his diabetic lie (which he also shared with a shockingly nurturing Hayden) and wondering what his big secret is. Viewers know that he had a wife, had a medical foundation go bankrupt due to Papa Berlin, and that he’s injecting something questionable into his veins. But all Finn’s willing to tell Carly is that he does have a secret, and it’s none of her business.

Finn is willing to research alternatives to Western medicine to try to bring Lucas out of his one-day coma. But Mays is once again in charge of a patient and refuses to listen to any other doctor’s ideas. Call me crazy, but isn’t that called a consult? Monica agrees with Mays, but only because Finn’s ideas aren’t FDA approved. Is Mays now at the top of anybody else’s list for suspects in the recent hospital deaths and Lucas’ attack? All of the talk is for naught, as Brad’s bedside pleas of love to Lucas bring his betrothed back from the brink. After Lucas moves his hand and opens his eyes, his next step is to tell Carly to stop shouting. Welcome back to the land of the living Lucas!

Nathan is finally well enough to be released from the hospital, but is having dreams about gunshots. Learning that Griffin is a priest, Nathan confesses that he’s keeping a secret from Maxie. At the same time, Maxie fired Sam as a private investigator, deciding that it was time to move on from her Claudette questions and focus on her future with Nathan. So, naturally, that’s when Nathan tells Maxie they need to talk.

Alexis is ready to meet with the police about Julian, but Lucas’ medical crisis puts a pin in those plans. And Kiki is happy to begin dating Dillon, putting the drama of Morgan in the rearview mirror.

The rest of the world revolves around the disappearance of Prince Nikolas Mikhail Stavrosovich Cassadine. All eyes, especially Hayden’s and Jordan’s, immediately focus on Jason as the prime suspect. The facts are that Nikolas’ bedroom was trashed, his cufflink was found on the rocks, and he is nowhere to be found. Jason and Sam stand firm by their timeline that Jason arrived, heard scuffling, and entered the bedroom to find the broken window and spy a body on the rocks. Jordan brings Jason in for questioning, and accuses him of hiding something since he insisted on a lawyer. For someone with no personal history with pre-amnesia Jason Morgan, Jordan sure seems to have immediate issues with him. Jason, for his part, has no interest in waiting to be arrested, and opts to check out of Port Charles to look for answers. Sam deposits Danny with the Quartermaines and follows along.

At a safe house, Jason and Sam work out a Post-it timeline of perceived events. Noting the extent of the damage to Nikolas’ bedroom, Jason wonders if the disarray was staged. From there, it’s a quick leap for Jason to join the chorus of viewers assuming that Nikolas is faking his death.

Back at Wyndemere, things aren’t quite so cut-and-dried, with Elizabeth and Hayden going after each other yet again. Hayden is definitely right about one thing: Elizabeth’s being quite a hypocrite. At this time, Hayden’s crimes are nonviolent and white-collar. Elizabeth kept Jason away from his family for months and knows Nikolas had Hayden shot to protect his Jason secret/ELQ interests. So why is it that Elizabeth feels so entitled to watch Hayden’s downfall? Unhappy that Hayden is pointing a finger at Jason, Elizabeth hightails it to the PCPD to tell Jordan about the stash of diamonds. Jordan heads to Wyndemere with the FBI in tow, but all that is found is a document accounting for the diamonds.

Though it’s flimsy evidence at this point, it’s enough to make Hayden want to bolt from Port Charles. Elizabeth intercepts her at the door, and a full on catfight ensues between the two. As the ladies scuffle on the floor, they’re interrupted by the appearance of Naomi Berlin, greeting her daughter (Hayden/Rachel).

Spencer is back on-screen, but his lack of emotion alarms Laura, who calls Kevin in for assistance. Laura and Kevin have a heart-to-heart wherein she recounts the story of Nikolas and how she kept him a secret for many years. Kevin surmises that Spencer is detaching to keep his emotions in check, but Laura lets her tears flow freely with her new, close friend.

Back at PCPD, Jordan requests an arrest warrant for Jason Morgan.

General Hospital airs weekdays on ABC.