The run-up to GENERAL HOSPITAL’s Patrick taking a second swing at matrimony points out just how much Dr. Patrick Drake, ace neurosurgeon, has changed over the last year. His development has meant a lot of heavy lifting, acting-wise, for Jason Thompson, who has not been shy about showing the imperfect and vulnerable sides of the dashing Dr. Drake.
Soap Opera Weekly: The way Patrick makes mistakes makes him seem more realistic than many soap leading men.
Jason Thompson: I love that Patrick has flaws, and I love that he doesn’t always want to admit them.
Weekly: You don’t seem afraid that Patrick has an emotional side.
Thompson: I feel that he’s always been an emotional guy, but he didn’t show much of it at first, so I like the fact that he shows it now. It shows that he has a little more confidence in himself now, and confidence in his life and in Robin. I feel like he can show a little bit more emotion and not be scared to show it. For a long time, he was. He shut it off. It was a valve that he shut because of the things that he went through as a young kid. It’s interesting now that things are happening and he is able to open up a little bit about it. It shows that he is very comfortable, and likes his life right now.
Weekly: It almost makes him seem stronger when he can be a little weepy without looking like a wimp.
Thompson: I agree. It’s a manly thing to show emotion and be honest with it and not try to hide it. Patrick hid things for so long, and pushed it down and bottled it up; he held a lot of resentment for a lot of people. In his own way, Patrick has been able to let go of certain things. He’s not perfect and he’s not going to just forget everything that’s happened, but at the same time you get to a certain point where it’s almost your responsibility to deal with it. Patrick is getting to that point more and more every day.
Weekly: And you have a strong co-star to work with.
Thompson: Yeah, I think that was really important, even from the beginning. I’m a lucky guy and a lucky actor that I get to work with Kimberly McCullough (Robin). She tries very hard to make her character as natural as possible — even in some unnatural situations. Together we have always tried to be as normal as possible.
Weekly: Well, you can blame the writers for the situations!
Thompson: Hats off to [head writer] Bob [Guza] and [executive producer] Jill [Farren Phelps], and everybody who has written our stuff. They have been together for roughly three years now, and in the soap world, that’s a lifetime.
