"General Hospital": Leslie Charleson Fans Speak Out!

Published: November 27, 2007 at 10:45 AM GMT
Last Updated: December 12, 2007 at 10:45 AM GMT

By Ed Martin

Fans of Leslie Charleson, the actress who has portrayed Dr. Monica Quartermaine for three decades, have posted a number of passionate and informative responses to this column. Be sure to read their comments below!

Can General Hospital be saved? Despite recent upsets, there may be reason for hope.

The moments to which I am referring have centered on Dr. Monica Quartermaine, now perhaps the most victimized woman in the history of daytime drama. During the last few years viewers have watched in horror as Monica's family -- one in which they invested decades watching her build -- has been savagely destroyed. Her son A.J. was mercilessly bullied by mobster Sonny Corinthos and forced to turn his only child, Michael, over to his archenemy, who refused to let Monica and her husband Alan have any contact with their only grandchild. Following this, A.J. was murdered in a sweeps stunt involving a long-forgotten minor character. Earlier this year Alan died of a heart attack brought on by yet another dangerous criminal. He died an almost broken man who had lost two sons and one grandson to Sonny. Last week it was Emily's turn to die at the hands of a madman who may or may not be one of Sonny's enemies. (The killer's identity remains unknown, but it's a safe bet it isn't new-nutcase-in-town Anthony Zacchara, because every character on the show currently believes Zacchara is responsible, so there would be no surprise in the eventual reveal.)

Prior to all this carnage, Monica and Alan had endured the trauma of watching Sonny influence their brain-damaged son Jason into becoming a gun-toting hit man; the death (from natural causes) of Alan's beloved mother Lila; and the murder of Alan's nephew Justus (from mob-related causes). And way-long ago (in 1991) Monica suffered the loss of her oldest daughter Dawn, who was beaten to death when the writing regime changed on the show and the new team decided they didn't want to deal with the character.

The hindsight saga of the Quartermaines now seems largely hollow and meaningless given where it has ended up today. But Monica's unexpected behavior in the wake of her latest tragedy -- one of pure fury, rather than grief and helplessness -- recalls memories of the headstrong Monica fans first became interested in when she arrived on the show back in 1977. We haven't seen this Monica in years, and it's a treat to have her back.

First, she blasted Jason when he came to her to tell her about Emily's death. Jason is actually the illegitimate son of Alan and his long-dead mistress Susan Moore (who was murdered in a sweeps stunt back in the early '80s), but Monica has always loved him as her own and defended him, even when he became a criminal. Startlingly, grief-ravaged Monica rejected Jason, threw him out of the Quartermaine mansion and told him he is no longer her son. Fans have been waiting for her to kick the murderous little lapdog to the curb for years!

Second, she blasted her sister-in-law and longtime nemesis Tracy after Tracy advised Monica to allow herself to grieve. Monica countered that Tracy knew nothing about grief, because her two sons were alive and well, while Monica has buried three of her own kids. It's nice to know she hasn't forgotten about the dearly departed Dawn, whose name has barely been uttered during the last decade and a half.

Lastly -- and most satisfyingly -- Monica blasted Sonny, for once acting like her old aggressive self rather than the wimpy victim or temperamental shrew she has been shaped as by recent writing teams. After Sonny told her that she might need the rejected Jason, Monica replied, "I need the Jason that I had before you made him a criminal. I need the A.J. I had before you hounded him to death and I need Alan, whose heart you broke before his heart should ever have failed. I need Michael, who you stole from me and my family, and I need Emily, who you seduced and left unprotected so one of your rivals could have her murdered. I hope you rot in hell for what you have done to me and my family. You are an evil, selfish man, Sonny, and I really hope that one of your enemies tracks you down before you destroy your family like you have destroyed mine."

Excellent! It was as if Monica were speaking for the millions of long-time GH fans who have been forced to sit and watch and accept the destruction of a classic soap family that meant so much to so many for so long, until ABC saw fit to begin destroying them.

And Monica actually got to Sonny. In a later scene, he matter-of-factly told current lady love Kate, "I never set out to hurt Monica's family. But the truth is, I have. If anyone ever did to my kids what I did to Monica's, I'd kill them." This was another great moment -- one in which Kate may have for the first time seen the real man with whom she is in love. Maurice Benard and Megan Ward nailed it.

I didn't think the current GH writers had it in them to give so powerful a scene to a character in whom they have shown so little interest for so long a time. For this, I applaud them. I hope they will continue to take advantage of this new (or, rather, reborn) Monica. She's like a mad hornet, ready to attack anyone who crosses her. As she rises from the ruins of her family I'd like to see the writers once again make her a powerful central figure and involve her in a significant new romance. Maybe it's time for her first husband, Jeff Webber (father of current beleaguered heroine Elizabeth), to return to Port Charles and rekindle their relationship. Or, wouldn't it be a kick if she began dating Sonny's father Mike, who is not involved with the underworld in any way? Heck, I'd be happy to see her go to dinner with Trevor Lansing, another enemy of Sonny's.

Regardless, I hope to hell that this powerful comeback for Monica Q. isn't temporary, because Leslie Charleson is doing her best work since the unforgettable story about Monica's battle against breast cancer in the early '90s. Her blistering attack on Sonny may be the character's finest scene since her legendary confrontation with Leslie Webber way back in 1980, which ended with wronged wife Leslie giving arrogant adulteress Monica a well-deserved slap in the face. Notably, there was a great moment at Emily's funeral when Leslie, still played by the rarely seen and much-missed Denise Alexander, consoled Monica. "Isn't it ironic how life turns out?" Monica responded. "The two of us spent all that time fighting over Rick, and here we are, alone." It was a real treat for long-time fans. Charleson and Alexander played the moment to perfection.

Another big treat of late is the reaction of Sonny's young stepson Michael to the murders of his beloved nanny Letitia and his devoted Aunt Emily. There is suddenly a look of demonic possession in the kid's eyes. Michael has made clear to Sonny that he wants the man responsible for killing Letitia and Emily to be "taken out" and he's angry that Sonny and Jason didn't kill the murderer before the murderer got to Emily.

It appears that Sonny and his ex-wife Carly may have made a monster, or that Michael may be a mobster-in-the-making. Nothing would horrify them more. Let's hope the writing team runs with this -- and with Sonny's realization that Monica is right about him and all of the terrible things he has done. It would be perfect karma: After blithely destroying many lives, Sonny and Carly are made to realize that their son has absorbed and processed every terrible thing they have ever done, including destroy his birth father, A.J. What could be worse? There is huge potential here, I believe, for a long-term story arc the likes of which I have never seen on daytime television -- one that will finally bring every detail from the last 15 years of this show to a roiling boil.

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