He Makes His Own Lists

Valentin weighs his next move

This felt like a heavy, exhausting week in Port Charles — the kind where everything revolved around testimony, pressure, and the slow tightening of consequences. It was the first full week back after the holidays, and the show leaned hard into the trial while quietly pushing several other stories forward alongside it.

Most of our conversation kept coming back to the trial, but not just “who did it.” It was about how people showed up on the stand and what that revealed. Dante trying to walk the line between duty and family stood out, especially when his past choices were dragged into the courtroom. Elizabeth’s testimony felt carefully honest, acknowledging what could have happened without accusing anyone outright. And Michael’s moment about hearing Wiley’s ringtone and remembering everything he had to lose was one of those small lines that carried a lot of weight.

We talked a lot about Trina and Kai too, because their role wasn’t really about playing detectives as much as wrestling with what they thought they knew. Watching them lock onto Michael, then force themselves to verify it, made the ringtone clue feel surprisingly smart — even if it relied on a very specific set of phones being audibly loud at the exact right times. Pulling Gio into it also showed how far they were willing to go for certainty, even when they couldn’t fully explain why.

Then Drew took the stand and completely unraveled. That whole stretch raised a bigger question for us: how Willow could sit there and hear him talk the way he did — especially acting like she was something he “took” from Michael — and still hold her composure. And that’s why the reveal landed the way it did. Once we heard Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the flashbacks started, it wasn’t framed like a mistake or a moment of panic. Between the gloves and the steps leading up to it, it played as deliberate. Jason’s quiet correction to Drew — that court doesn’t declare someone “innocent,” only “not guilty” — was one of those low-key lines that cut through all the courtroom posturing.

Outside the main trial story, there were a few other threads we kept circling back to. Tracy realizing she’d been maneuvered — and that the anonymous tip had to come from inside her own house — added another layer to the fallout. And Martin being the one behind it fit with how calmly he moved through the week, especially once the truth was out in the open.

Portia’s storyline stayed messy in a different way. It wasn’t indecision about the paternity test itself — it was the emotional whiplash of who she wanted to be the father, depending on which conversation she was in. Britt holding the line professionally was one of the few steady points there, even with Curtis and Isaiah both trying to push the situation in their own direction.

We also had Laura making quiet, serious moves. Ezra pressing her, Laura pushing back, and then the decision to send Ace to Ireland with Kevin gave that whole story a low, uneasy tension. And the Luke mention hit strangely in the middle of it — less like a big moment and more like a gut-punch thought slipping out at the wrong time.

And then Shannon did what Shannon does: got distracted by the details in the best way. Alexis being brought a Greek New Year’s cake — the vasilopita — turned into a whole deep dive. It’s traditionally eaten on New Year’s Day, with a coin baked inside, and slices are cut in a symbolic order (including one for Christ and one for the home) as a way of asking for blessing and protection in the year ahead. We also couldn’t help comparing it to King Cake traditions around January 6th and Epiphany, because of course we did. On the real-world side, we also kept coming back to what a private citizen is actually required to report, and how returning to police work after being away would realistically involve refresher training — because Nathan’s evidence-handling choices had us both going “sir… what are we doing here.”

Port Charles Pipeline: We heard from Holly, who looked up Denise Alexander’s final General Hospital appearance and helped settle the timeline for us. We also talked about June Lockhart’s passing and how that connects back into the show’s history, and we shared a few quick cast-life updates — including Josh Swickard’s baby news and confirmation that a fuller Luke tribute episode is coming.

A lot shifted this week.

Want to hear our full thoughts? Hosts Amanda and Shannon break down the week’s General Hospital episodes with thoughtful discussion, differing perspectives, and predictions for what may be coming next.

Listen to the full weekly recap episode of our General Hospital podcast wherever you get your podcasts.

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