Critical Diagnosis: Week of January 19-23, 2026 by Jeff Giles

 

Well, that was a week! If not for a pre-emption caused by the network's willingness to bump General Hospital in order to broadcast the deranged rantings of a sundowning felon, we could have had five solid days of fireworks in Port Charles. Alas, we had to make do with only four — but on the bright side, our unexpected day off from the show left viewers on tenterhooks in a way we don't often see anymore. As silly as things can still get on GH, and as offended as I remain by the treatment of POC characters, I really do feel like the writing has been on an upward swing for the past few months. Maybe we're looking at an actual trend rather than an aberration?

Everything's Gonna Work Out, Drew. You'll See

The week kicked off with the reading of Willow's verdict, followed by the aftermath. Initially, it looked like things would play out pretty much as expected: Michael left the courtroom, convinced he'd be the next one on trial, while Drew repeatedly tried and failed to make the whole thing about him. When Willow said she'd forever owe a debt of gratitude to Alexis, Drew's obvious jealousy was delicious, and the fun continued when Nina hijacked his attempt to plan a quiet celebration by inviting herself and Chase.

When Nina arrived, Drew waited until they were alone to threaten her, saying he'd tell Willow she was hoping for a guilty verdict so she could swoop in with her own lawyers and save the day. Nina, who's really enjoying knowing that Willow didn't marry Drew for love, scoffed and called his bluff — but ended up leaving anyway, only because she didn't want to cause a scene and ruin Willow's big day. Next to arrive was Chase, who came pathetically bearing flowers; as Drew was trying to get rid of him, Willow breezed in, gushing with huge thanks for her shining knight on the PCPD, causing Drew to seethe with envy once again.

Well before Monday's episode was done, Drew's intentions were obvious: With Willow exonerated, his next step was to double down on isolating her from everyone else in her life. His reactions to her interactions with Alexis and Chase reminded us that he's motivated as much by insecure jealousy as he is by whatever warped version of love he feels for her, but his pathetic nature just makes him more desperate, and therefore more dangerous. The clear implication was that without the trial hanging over their heads, Drew would be free to continue digging a moat around the object of his obsession.

As it turned out, Willow had a plan of her own.

After basically cornering Drew into allowing Scout to visit Alexis, Willow got some champagne so she and Drew could celebrate her acquittal — and then, while he blathered on about his plans for a vacation, she came up behind him, draped one arm around him, and used her other hand to jab a hypodermic needle into his neck. His eyes bugged out, he gasped in pain and shock, and he collapsed on the floor, gaping at her in confusion. Parroting the words he smugly uttered before she shot him in the back, she murmured, "Everything's gonna work out, Drew. You'll see."

One hell of a cliffhanger!

So far, the fallout from Willow's badass move has been sort of muted. We've learned that whatever she did to Drew caused him to have a major stroke that could leave him permanently unable to move or speak, and we've watched her dispose of the needle in a GH sharp bin — suggesting she's gotten better at crime since Edward's gun was found in her room at Elizabeth's house — but we don't know what was in the needle, how she planned it, or what she intends to do now. She's still faking concern for Drew to everyone, even Nina. She isn't talking to anyone, which continues to rob us of sorely needed insight into the actions of the character who's now driving the story.

Obviously, this can't go on much longer, and to the writers' credit, numerous signs point to potential shifts in the wind. For starters, several people know she's guilty, and they're all raising an eyebrow at her in the wake of Drew's sudden stroke. Alexis is probably less than likely to go digging, especially now that Willow has agreed to let Scout live with her while Drew's laid up, but Trina and Kai are another story. Even Nina is low-key wondering what the hell is going on with her daughter, although for the moment, she seems mostly worried that Willow will mistake concern for love where Drew's concerned. 

All of which is to say that at some point — and likely sometime soon — someone will force Willow to tell the truth about what she's done and what she's doing. I personally think this would be a great time for Harmony's ghost to return so she and Willow could talk about all this; in fact, there's a certain amount of daffy potential in the idea that Harmony has continued to appear to her, offscreen, for the last couple of years. The last thing we saw her do was warn Willow she couldn't trust someone — what if she was talking about Drew?

That would be a cuckoo good time, but I think it's far more likely that Willow will visit Drew in his hospital room, tell him what a bastard he is and explain everything she's done to him, and someone will overhear her. I just hope it ends up being someone fun.

Have You Missed Me, Auntie Anna?

The rest of the week's action centered around Spoon Island, where Cullum is consolidating power while working to carry out Faison's final project. Right now, this mostly entails threatening Britt into abandoning the doctor job she just regained at GH, breaking up with Jason, and disappearing for a couple of months so she can work in Sidwell's new lab. (He even threatened her with the possibility that Rocco could be shipped off to Steinmauer for stealing classified materials, so you know the show really wants us to think he's evil.)

Faced with the threat of losing access to her medication and desperate to keep Rocco and Jason from harm, Britt complied — but first, she staged a ridiculous fight with Carly and Jason at Bobbie's, one so transparent that even Carly could tell she was being baited, and (mostly) refused to take the bait. It was painful to watch, but it served a purpose: Without actually telling Jason she was in trouble, Britt managed to throw up a red flag, and now he won't rest until he finally figures out what's going on and saves the day.

I want to pause here to share a question I've been asking while watching all this develop, which is: Who exactly are we supposed to be rooting for in this story? This damn thing has wound its tentacles around a bunch of characters, but we're awfully heavy on villains and running very light on heroes. 

I mean, sure, Britt was coerced into playing "dead" so she could have access to the medicine that (offensively) halts the progress of her real-life disease, but in exchange, she had to help some really bad people do some really bad things, so why should we feel bad for her? Jason is a murderer whose special set of skills long ago morphed into magic powers making him capable of solving any crime and thwarting any bad guy, and I'm beyond tired of watching him save the day. And then there's the WSB, which has been utterly ruined by years of writers thinking it'd be cool if the organization that gave us some of the most compelling characters in the history of the show turned out to be corrupt at every level. Brennan is a scumbag, Cullum is an even bigger one, and the Bureau's best and brightest young recruit doesn't know her ass from her elbow.

This leaves us with Anna, who spent the week weeping and barfing in her Spoon Island cell while being tormented by the voice of Faison — and then, even worse, a visit from the dreaded Peter August, which mostly served to prove that Wes Ramsey has spent the last few years developing a Galactus-sized hunger for scenery to chew. By the end of Friday's episode, as Peter hissed and hollered about how Faison was almost ready to reveal himself to her, Anna whimpered that she just wanted all of it to be over, and I felt every word.

This is, of course, not the fault of Finola Hughes, who did her damn job like she always does. It's just that we've spent decades watching Anna be tortured by the sins and/or ghosts of her past, and I desperately want the writers to find something else for her to do. And as much as her reactions make sense here, I'm not getting any enjoyment out of watching them. We have been here and done this so many times.

Because I choose to operate under the assumption that Peter isn't actually alive, and was instead just a hallucination triggered by whatever magic potion Cullum has been slipping her, I'm not going to waste much space on Ramsey's surprise return, except to say that his acting here made his prior performances look like a model of restraint. Wubs thinks he's trolling, and that may be right, but it's the type of trolling that really should be reined in by the director. My non-GH-watching wife happened to be in the room while he was doing his thing, and it took her about ten seconds to burst into laughter. Given all the backstory, it can be tough for a soap to hook new viewers right away — they should strain to actively avoid moments like these, that will only repel them.

Anyway. While Anna was being tormented in the catacombs, Lucas was hosting a cocktail hour at Wyndemere, attended by the delightful combo of Joss, Ava, and Marco. Typically, I wouldn't be inclined to describe any Joss appearance as "delightful," but I'm making an exception here, because she accepted Lucas' invitation after being decommissioned by Brennan, who told her he can't have her in the field while Cullum's in town, lest Cullum learn the apparently secret identity of the new female recruit everyone's been talking about. (This makes zero sense, but whatever.) Because Joss is a stubborn know-it-all, she decided to head out to Wyndemere and snoop anyway — and she was immediately caught by Ava, who apparently now lives to come slinking out of the shadows just in time to stop anyone from getting away with anything at her former abode. This moment didn't move the story at all, but it did lead to a few minutes of Ava absolutely filleting Joss' holier-than-thou attitude; like I said, delightful.

(Random aside: When Joss was pawing through the bookshelf, her movements made it clear that a bunch of the "books" were really the type of false front that usually leads to a secret door or passageway opening when it's moved. I'm not sure if this was intentional or just Eden McCoy making a mistake with a prop, but it was noticeable.)

Once the liquor started flowing, Lucas got nostalgic for his childhood on the island, and decided it'd be fun for them to explore the mansion's secret passageways. Ava declined, pointing out that her fancy footwear wasn't made for adventure, but Joss quickly agreed — only for Marco to jump in and tell them both "absolutely not." It'll be interesting to see where this leads, especially since we know, courtesy of Lucas, that Pascal is currently off the island and unavailable for his usual shenanigan-thwarting duty. It'd be a ton of fun if Lucas ended up rescuing Anna, which is exactly why it'll never happen; still, if only for a weekend, a guy can dream.

Last note before we get to your bullets: Monday's episode opened with an aerial shot of Port Charles, which I appreciated. More stuff like this, please!

• After threatening Chase, an angry Turner told Dante to build a case against Michael

• Suzanne found Alexis throwing a tantrum in her office and immediately understood that Willow's guilty

• After spending half an episode dragging Portia and Isaiah for their affair, Stella spent the other half apologizing to them

• Portia had a meeting with GH board reps Laura and Tracy, and defended herself by pointing out that she saved Drew's life; later, Curtis met with Laura and told her that Drew tried to blackmail Portia into altering Michael's blood test, but she refused

• We also learned that Portia has already been cleared by the American Medical Association, which honestly tracks during the MAHA era

• Turner told Sonny she'll recuse herself if charges are brought against Michael — and she'll be happy to do it, because she still thinks Willow's guilty

• Chase and Michael got into a fistfight that Jason ended far too quickly

• Rebecca Herbst needs to sue the wardrobe department

• Lulu and Rocco met with Cullum, who asked them to reach out if they remembered anything that could lead to Dalton being found; later, Lulu told Laura about the meeting

• Chase's week went from bad to worse when Dante told him he was being demoted from detective to beat cop — and then Brook Lynn questioned his renewed interest in pursuing adoption

• Tracy offered to be Jason's alibi for "whatever you did to Drew"; later, she helped Chase clean up the mess he made of her backgammon set while throwing a tantrum

• Gio and Emma tried going to Mac with her concerns regarding Anna's extended absence, but he was out on a call; instead, they told Nathan, who promised to investigate

• Alexis, apparently forgetting Danny exists, told Suzanne that Scout is all she has left of Sam