ABC/Ricky Middlesworth
Our Time To Shine: Chase (Josh Swickard) and Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) ensure that their good news travels fast.
Josh Swickard (Chase, GH) is still on a fictional high from his character’s engagement to Brook Lynn. “It was such a sweet, well-written set of scenes and I felt like it was such a long time coming for Brook Lynn and Chase,” he beams. “They’ve had such a roller coaster of not seeing eye to eye and finally, they made it! Hopefully they make it to the wedding, but making it to Chase getting down on one knee was awesome!”
According to the actor, “Chase has always wanted to be married, but sometimes, the cards don’t fall the way you want them to. I think even as a really young cop when he was with Janelle [also known as Nelle], he could see the happily-ever-after, but he just kept getting burned. He’s made a couple attempts now, but I think he’s matured a lot over the past five or six years, too, and can say with a little more certainty, ‘This is what I want, I’ve done the sham thing, I’ve been bamboozled, and I know this is for real. I want to do this.’ ”
This week, the duo spreads the good news about their plans to marry. First up, they spend time with Finn, Violet, Gregory and Elizabeth. “It’s very Christmas-y,” Swickard sets up. “We’re decorating and setting up the tree, and then we announce our engagement to the family. The scenes are super-cute. I love getting to work with Rebecca Herbst [Elizabeth] and Michael Easton [Finn] and Gregory Harrison [Gregory] — and, obviously, little miss Violet,” played by Jophielle Love, “steals the show every single time! We had such a fun time doing these scenes. Even if it’s fake, when you share good news, it feels good. Even though it’s manufactured, because we’re acting in a scene, when a bunch of people stand up and say, ‘Hey, this is great, we’re so excited for you,’ it still feels nice! And it’s really nice for Chase to see his family embrace Brook Lynn and want to welcome her into their family.”
There is, however, something of a pall hanging over the festive atmosphere, given that Gregory is battling ALS. “There is a lot going on with his health,” acknowledges Swickard. “It feels like there’s a lot at stake and a lot on the line, and it’s definitely toward the front of Chase’s mind. I think it’s a definitely priority for both Chase and Brook Lynn that Gregory is able to be present at the wedding, and if I was a guessing man, I’d think that Chase would want to have the wedding sooner rather than later.”
Brook Lynn gets a text from her mother summoning her back to the Quartermaine house, so she and her fiancé head there next, and announce their engagement to her relatives. “Those scenes are hilarious because Tracy’s involved,” the actor reports. “She replies exactly how you think she would, in the best way. It’s so fun. I think it’s a slightly different reaction, but overall, the same outcome.”
Swickard says that he’s looking forward to seeing how Chase and Brook Lynn’s wedding plans unfold — and is happy for his alter ego that this time around, chances are good that he’ll get to slip the ring on Chase’s bride’s finger, unlike when he wed Willow and her secret lover, Michael, handled those honors. “That was one of my favorite things ever,” he grins. “I could not believe it when we were filming it, and I couldn’t keep it together! Chad [Duell, Michael] and I just kept losing it, over and over again. It was just such soap opera gold!”
