What’s the Play

We are recapping the week of March 23 through 27, 2026, and it was a lot. Big moments, emotional gut punches, and a storyline we had been watching build for weeks finally paid off in the worst way possible. We also have our seven year anniversary coming up on April 1st, and we cannot believe we are almost there. Here is what had us talking.

Valentin and the Dinner That Did Not Go as Planned

The week opened with what both of us assumed was someone else entirely. Shannon thought Lucas was setting a table to celebrate with Marco. Amanda thought it was Chase and Brook Lynn marking some milestone in the baby situation. It was Valentin, making coq au vin in Carly's kitchen, which he has also made for Anna, so that appears to be the dish he goes to when something matters.

We looked into the wine. A real bottle cannot carry both a French Loire Valley designation and a California Central Coast appellation — those are two different countries with two entirely different regulatory systems. The Loire Valley is a legitimate wine region. The bottle is a prop. This did not stop the dinner from being charming or Carly from being caught when Lucas showed up. Her cover story did not hold up, the leftovers were allegedly thrown away, and we want to be clear that coq au vin only gets better in the refrigerator. None of this needed to happen.

Marco

Cullum stabbed Marco seven times, moved his phone just out of reach, turned off the lights, and shut the door on his way out. He was found only because Alexis and Danny came to the office by chance. She kept pressure on the wounds while Danny called 911. He was not thinking about who Marco's father was or what any of this meant in the larger context of everything happening at the waterfront. He saw a person who needed help and focused on that.

Marco made it to the hospital and did not make it home. Lucas was in surgery on the other side of the building, operating on Cullum, with no idea what had happened. Liz was the one who had to find him and tell him. She asked him to sit down. He told her to just say it. There is no good way to tell your best friend that the person he loves is gone, and she knew that. Sidwell arrived later, and when he found Lucas, he thanked him for loving his son and said he had never seen Marco that happy. It was a hard thing to watch. Then he invited Lucas back to Wyndemere. Sidwell has not forgotten that Marco and Lucas were involved in getting that medication to Britt, and we are left wondering whether that invitation is grief or strategy.

The Pier

Rocco came to the hospital to see Britt about a mentorship program and ended up overhearing her conversation with Lucas. He heard enough to understand that she was sick, that Lucas had been helping her get medication, and that she was planning to leave Port Charles. After Lucas left, Cullum showed up. He had read Lucas's text, got to the pier ahead of Britt, and when she arrived he took the medication vials, smashed them, and pulled a gun on her.

Jason had been at Danny's basketball game when Dante tried to take him in on a WSB order. He headbutted Dante and left. He arrived at Pier 55 as Cullum was attacking Britt, and the two of them fought. During the fight the gun fell. Rocco, who had followed Britt to the pier after what he overheard, picked it up and shot Cullum.

Nathan arrived and said the eight words that had at least one listener writing in immediately: the police are two minutes out, what is the play. He took Rocco out of there. Jason shot Cullum and then woke Britt — who had been knocked unconscious during the struggle — and told her to say she saw Jason pull the trigger. She said it. Jason sat at the PCPD, said nothing, answered nothing, and every officer in the building knew something was off and could not prove it. The complication already developing is Lulu, who walked into the ICU without an invitation and has one question she keeps returning to: who else was there. Rocco is not holding up well, and the longer this goes unresolved, the harder it becomes for everyone around him.

Ric and Liz, and the Conversation She Should Have Let

Finish

Our position on this pairing has not changed, but we want to be specific about why. It is not about Rick Hearst — he plays the character exactly right, including the charm that makes you forget for a moment what the character has done. What we cannot get behind is the storytelling shortcut. Months of no became a kiss on the floor without any friendship in between, without the audience getting to watch something real be built. When Liz told Ric not to tell her the truth about the detox, she closed a door he was trying to open. When she finds out what he is doing with Sonny, and she will, he is going to point to that dinner and say he tried. He will not be entirely wrong. Franco set the standard for what a redemption arc that earns its ending actually looks like. The bar exists.

Quick Notes

Chase and Brook Lynn named the baby Phoebe and Brook Lynn wants to keep her while the family search is ongoing. Abandoned infants become wards of the state. That is not how the process works. We understand the impulse completely and it is still not how the process works.

Wiley walked up to the foster care social worker during Brook Lynn and Chase's home interview and asked, with complete sincerity, what a hooker is. Olivia had used the word in the next room. The social worker's expression said everything.

Gio asked why Corinthos Coffee was not served at the police station, which is honestly a fair question. We have already written the tagline for a Corinthos Coffee anniversary blend — when you want your coffee as dark as your storylines — and GH marketing is welcome to it, free of charge.

Port Charles Pipeline

Beth wrote in again this week and shared more about the fan events she has coming up. She

clarified that no, she did not bring Kelly a gift at the last one — that was someone else's bag heading to a different appearance. She sent a photo of herself standing next to Cynthia Watros and we appreciated that she identified herself so we knew who we were looking at.

Perry Shen posted about the pomegranate cosmogroni this week, and multiple listeners flagged it for us, including Calla Lily and Holly. He had not made the drink before the scene, but he decided to take a crack at it and posted the whole thing. So our suspicion was at least partially right — the recipe did not exist ahead of filming. He has since figured it out. We are going to as well, just not at eight in the morning.

Melanie wrote in with the theory that Nathan might have a twin brother, which sent us into a conversation about whether identical twins share fingerprints. They do not. Fingerprints are shaped by environmental factors during the first trimester, which makes every finger on every person entirely unique. Melanie also reiterated something she has said before and that we agree with completely — she wants Liz to have her own storyline. Her own. Not another love triangle, not another chapter in a relationship from twenty years ago. A story that belongs to her.

Amy sent a long and thoughtful defense of Ric and Liz that she had clearly put real time into. She is a romantic at heart, she believes people can change, and she makes the case that underneath everything these two have been through there is something genuine worth rooting for. We read every word. We hope she gets the outcome she is looking for. History tells us not to hold our breath, but hope is what keeps us watching, and we respect that completely.

Reality Check

Shannon spent the week in Nashville for her company convention. She attended the Grand Ole Opry, which is celebrating its centennial year, and Pat Sajak was there as a guest emcee and ended up square dancing, which is a sentence we never expected to write. She made it to the Bluebird Cafe, which has been on her list for thirty-plus years. She ended up front row at a Tim McGraw concert, made a custom shirt with a Where the Green Grass Grows theme, and Tim McGraw came off the stage, shook her hand, and pointed at the shirt with a laugh. He had a chest cold. She said it was worth it. We believe her.

Amanda had birthday week at home — a party at her mom's house for the kids, Emily turning 23, Megan turning 20, and Matt turning 28, which she described as very sad. In the middle of all of that, Madeline had a dance competition on Sunday with all five of her dances performing on the same day. Megan was not thrilled about sharing her birthday weekend with a competition schedule. Amanda reminded her that she did not set the schedule. Everyone survived.

This Thursday on the Port Charles 411

We are continuing our retrospective on Ric Lansing and Elizabeth Webber with Part Two, covering 2014 through 2016. If Part One left you wondering why we keep saying these two cannot simply pick up where they left off, this chapter will add to that picture. There is still a lot of ground to cover.

Find us at GeneralHospitalPodcast.com or search Pier 54 on your favorite podcast platform. New episodes every Monday and Thursday.

We will meet you at the pier. ⚓

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