Exclusive: General Hospital’s Kristen Vaganos On Molly’s Grief, Ava’s Trial
Mourn Again: Molly (Kristen Vaganos, r., with Kate Mansi as Kristina, l., and Nancy Lee Grahn as Alexis) has been through a string of devastating losses.
Molly’s life was turned upside-down — again — by the tragic and unexpected death of her big sister Sam, which came on the heels of Kristina losing the baby she was carrying for Molly and TJ. Ava is about to go on trial for her role in the accident that led to the passing of the little girl, with Molly’s dad, Ric, defending her — and intending to call Molly to the stand. Soap Opera Digest checked in with Kristen Vaganos about the latest wave of drama in Molly’s life.
Soap Opera Digest: Only recently, Molly was at the funeral for baby Irene, and now, her sister is being buried. How would you describe Molly’s state of mind as she grapples with the death of Sam?
Kristen Vaganos: It’s kind of surreal. I mean, I can’t believe how much she has been through, to lose the baby and now Sam. It’s sort of just too much — it’s one of those moments where you just go into survival mode because you kind of can’t even believe this is all happening. My heart goes out to her so much. I just go to work every day and go to this dark place; it’s just one thing after another. And one of the ways [the show’s writers] really dramatized this moment, which I think is just so heartbreaking, is that Kristina and Molly were fighting in what became the last time they saw Sam. They were fighting over the baby, and Kristina’s attitude, and the trial and this and that, and that was the day Sam decided to tell them she was going to be the donor [and give part of her liver to Lulu]. And Sam ended up storming out because we made the moment about us and got caught up in our own stuff and our own anger. I remember after we shot that scene, knowing it was going to be the last time Molly and Kristina see Sam. I was fully crying after filming it because I had knowledge that Molly didn’t have yet [about Sam’s imminent death] and it broke my heart. It’s just really hard. When someone passes, we always think, like, “Oh, I forgot to call them back,” or, “I didn’t pick up the last time they called” — we ruminate over these things and it’s not our fault, it wouldn’t have changed anything, but it’s just this horrible torture we put ourselves through.
Digest: I imagine, whether or not it’s explicit in the script, that those thoughts are probably going through Molly’s head and keeping her up at night.
Vaganos: Yeah, exactly. And there is a brief mention of it in the script, when she puts together that that was the last time she saw Sam and she just can’t believe she’ll never see her again, never be able to apologize for that [last encounter]. It’s just unbearable. I mean, my sister in real life is my best friend, too, and I just cannot even imagine how devastating this is for Molly. I just feel so bad for her!
Digest: In addition to the heaviness of the funeral, and her ongoing friction with Kristina, and her emotional distance from TJ, Molly is wrestling with knowing that she’s been named as a witness for the defense in Ava’s trial, which is right around the corner. How is that sitting with her?
Vaganos: It’s not sitting well! It’s the last thing she needs on top of all this other stuff. All she wants is a moment of peace and quiet, and having to be called as a witness at this trial, she views it as a real betrayal on her dad’s part. Like, he didn’t have to do that, and he doesn’t really need to be defending Ava to begin with! The fact that he’s roping her into this is just the last thing she wants to be dealing with. She doesn’t want to relive [Irene’s death] any more. She just wants to try to get to the other side of all of this and it seems like this is just another obstacle — and it’s obviously not going to help her relationship with Kristina. So it’s really looming over her in a very dark way.
Digest: Is she bracing herself for how Kristina will respond to the news?
Vaganos: I mean, here’s the thing with Kristina. Molly’s dad explained to her that he’s only doing this because he wants to get her to see that it was an accident, so that she will stop blaming people and be able to achieve the peace she so desperately wants. Molly doesn’t see that as helpful in terms of her finding peace, but Ric does, and I think Molly is trying to convince herself that it could be, in theory. She might be able to convince Alexis that it could be, but convincing Kristina is nearly an impossible task because she just doesn’t live with logic and reason. If the rest of us aren’t on board, she’s definitely not going to be! It’s like having to sell something you don’t even really fully believe in yourself. I think in most of Molly’s fights with Kristina, she wholeheartedly believes in what she’s fighting for. And this one is really tough, because even Molly is like, “Look, I don’t want to go up there and testify, either. I wish I wasn’t but I don’t have a choice and please don’t see this as a personal betrayal.” But you never can get through to Kristina.
Conversation
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