General Hospital: Did Valentin Just Betray Carly?
The September 15 episode of General Hospital proved what a stronghold Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) still has on Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart) — and hinted that Carly Spencer (Laura Wright) might have reason to doubt his commitment to their own relationship.
Where Does Valentin’s Offer to Anna Leave Carly?
In the episode, Valentin got wind of a mentally unstable Anna’s recent attempt on Britt Westbourne’s (Kelly Thiebaud) life and went to her for answers.
Anna broke down to Valentin, confessing that she had faked her recovery at the clinic in France and returned to Port Charles intending to end Faison’s lineage by killing Britt. When she voiced her fear that the WSB would put her away in a facility somewhere until they determined she was no longer a danger, Valentin pitched a drastic solution: fleeing Port Charles — together.
Anna didn’t accept his offer, not wanting him to throw away the life he had only just gotten back with Charlotte (Bluesy Burke) and Carly. But the sheer fact that he was willing to leave Carly behind and go into hiding with Anna speaks volumes about how much he still cares for his former lover and the sacrifices he is willing to make for her.
Carly has not been blind to that. As her romance with Valentin blossomed, the pair has had frank conversations about Valentin’s feelings for Anna, a woman he carried a torch for for decades and with whom he had been in a serious relationship. Carly didn’t mind when Valentin rushed off to take care of Anna, who had suffered a panic attack, later assuring him she was glad Anna had a friend like him she could rely on. And after Jack (Chris McKenna) had warned her that she would always come second to Anna, Carly told Valentin she understood his connection to Anna because she has a similar bond with Jason (Steve Burton) and would do anything to help him.
Thus far, Carly hasn’t felt threatened by the pull Valentin feels toward Anna or his protectiveness of her. But there is a difference between knowing that Valentin will always care about Anna and discovering that, when Anna’s safety is at stake, his instinct is to offer to sacrifice the life he has built with Carly. Would she really still feel secure in their relationship if she knew he was willing to leave both her and Charlotte behind in the name of safeguarding Anna from the WSB?
Of course, it’s significant that Valentin didn’t offer to pick up stakes and run away with Anna so they could be together romantically. He saw that someone he loves was vulnerable and in need of help, and — perhaps reflexively — he offered to provide that help. Rather than see this as a betrayal of their relationship, Carly might find his loyalty admirable.
But if that loyalty made him pick up stakes and leave her in the dust, it would still leave Carly with good reason to question whether she can truly have a future with Valentin. And today’s development provides a major glimpse into what GH‘s head writers, Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten, were teasing when they revealed in the Genera Hospital fall preview that when it comes to Valentin and Carly, “perhaps the greatest threat to their happiness is the return of the original love of Valentin’s life, Anna Devane.”
At the end of today’s episode, Carly showed up at Anna’s and was thrown when Valentin answered the door. When the action resumes tomorrow, she may get an uncomfortable glimpse into just how much of an obstacle Anna — and Valentin’s long history of devotion to her — may be, and whether what she thought she was signing on for with him is actually the relationship she is going to get.
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