General Hospital Exclusive: Ryan Paevey on Nathan’s High-Stakes Move to Protect Rocco
On General Hospital, Britt (Kelly Thiebaud) and Jason’s (Steve Burton) plan to flee Port Charles hit a dangerous snag courtesy of Cullum (Andrew Hawkes), who issued a warrant for Jason’s arrest, stabbed Marco (Adrian Anchondo), and ambushed Britt on the pier. Jason arrived and was about to be assaulted by Cullum when Rocco (Finn Carr) shot the dastardly WSB director in the back, and when PCPD Det. Nathan West arrived on the scene, he swiftly set about getting Rocco the heck out of Dodge. Soap Opera Digest spoke to Nathan’s portrayer, Ryan Paevey, for his take on Nathan swooping in to protect Rocco.
About A Boy
Under normal circumstances, Nathan is a by-the-book cop. But Cullum’s crimes have hit close to home, incentivizing him to make sure that Rocco isn’t charged with shooting a federal agent. After all, he is close with both of Rocco’s parents: Lulu (Alexa Havins) is his new girlfriend, and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) is his colleague and longtime friend. On top of that, his sister, Britt, gave birth to the boy.
Paevey notes that even in the chaos of the moment, Nathan knew that Rocco never set out to hurt anyone. “Nathan is a cop. He is someone who is used to situations like this, where there are guns, fights, people who have been hurt,” the actor points out. “He sees that this kid is in shock and he feels like, ‘I know what to do. We gotta go, kid. We can deal with this later, but right now, you cannot be here.'”
According to Paevey, what he calls Nathan’s “affinity for Lulu” was high on the list of his reasons for coming to Rocco’s aid. “Nathan’s care for Lulu is legitimate and genuine, and it’s a powerful motivator to make sure that Rocco is okay. He wants to take care of her kid.”
After ushering Rocco back home, Nathan told Lulu that her son would be fine — as long as they never told the truth about the night’s events to Dante — who is not only Rocco’s dad but Port Charles’s acting police commissioner. Things have already been bumpy between Dante and Nathan, given that Nathan has fallen for Dante’s ex — and Dante was among the last to know. Paevey says, “Now there are more secrets being kept from Dante; regardless of motivation, [Nathan] is playing a role in trying to convince his ex-wife not to tell the father that his kid shot somebody. So, it adds to the general erosion of trust.”
But it’s not just his bond with Dante that Nathan is risking by covering up Rocco’s actions — he’s also putting his badge on the line. “I think it’s feasible that Nathan would do something like that in a split second,” Paevey argues. “Yeah, not going by the book is not the most Nathan thing ever, but making sacrifices for people that you love is a Nathan thing. I think that martyring your own principles to take care of the people that you love could be construed as a Nathan thing.
“In this particular case,” he continues, “it’s a slippery slope because he does something that goes against the cop rule book, but it’s very clear that his motivations for doing so are because he cares about Rocco, because he cares about Lulu, and because he realizes that this situation got out of everybody’s control. It got way out of hand, and action — like, immediate action — was necessary. He didn’t do the cop thing, but it’s not difficult to see that he cares about the people involved. He could tell in a split second that Rocco found himself in a situation that he was not equipped to handle. He could see it in the look on Rocco’s face. So Nathan had to take quick, decisive action — and hopefully in a fashion that doesn’t result in Rocco in handcuffs in the back of a cop car!”
Unlikely Allies
Paevey was intrigued by the role that Jason played in how things unfolded. After showing up on the scene moments after Rocco fired the gun, Nathan assessed the situation, told Jason that the patrol cars were two minutes out, then asked him, “What’s the play?” Observes Paevey, “There is some sort of trust or bond or agreement between them, where they know [the other] knows what to do. Very little is spoken between us at all, but there does seem to be an understanding between the two of them.”
While Jason and Nathan are on opposite sides of the law, “We both kind of live in this world of guns and fights and things like that,” Paevey muses. “We understand there’s a sort of rule or a code of conduct here, you know? Like, ‘Kids are off the menu. You take care of each other’s children. We can fight, but I’m not gonna shoot your son.’ The converse of that is true as well; all it takes between two gentlemen who live in this world and live by these rules is, ‘Look, we’ve got to get the kid out of here. The rest of this is a problem, but get the kid out and then we’ll set about dealing with it.’ In the moment, the priority is to get the kid out.”
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