General Hospital Recap: Trina and Kai Think They Know Who Shot Drew, Tracy and Michael Testify and More!
During the January 6 episode of General Hospital, defense attorney Alexis (Nancy Lee Grahn) took a huge gamble with Tracy (Jane Elliot) that paid off, Michael (Rory Gibson) took the stand, Trina (Tabyana Ali) and Kai (Jens Austin Astrup) came to a startling conclusion, Lulu (Alexa Havins) had a new reason to worry about Charlotte (Bluesy Burke), Carly (Laura Wright) and Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) devised a new strategy, and Dante (Dominic Zamprogna) called Nathan’s (Ryan Paevey) skills into question. Dive into everything that happened below!
A New Game Plan
Following Charlotte’s visit, Valentin planned to take off before Jack (or someone else) kidnapped his daughter to draw him out of hiding. Although freaked out that Charlotte had put them all at risk by coming back to her house, Carly insisted there were lines Jack wouldn’t cross. Unable to say the same about Sidwell, Valentin filled Carly in on the threats the criminal had made to Charlotte. Since Sidwell could help them expose Jack as the head of Pikeman and clear Valentin’s name, Carly told her houseguest that the safest place for him was in her attic until he figured out a way to approach the other man.
Power Play
Under oath, Jacinda nervously confessed that she’d been with Ezra Boyle at the Raven Motel during the time that Drew was shot — and not with Michael. At her admission, Josslyn and Dante turned to their brother in surprise while Michael closed his eyes and hung his head, but he then assured his sister that all Jacinda’s statement proved was that they hadn’t been together that night. Dismissed when Justine had no questions for her, Jacinda shared a tense look with Michael as she exited the courtroom.
Next, Alexis recalled Tracy to the stand. As Judge Sullivan reminded Tracy that she was still under oath, Suzanne entered the courtroom and handed her boss a flash drive and a folder. After making a big production of looking at the folder, Alexis recapped that Tracy had previously testified that she hadn’t observed anything unusual outside of Drew’s home, then asked if Tracy had remembered anything else since then. Shuffling around the folders in her hand so that the one facing Tracy was labeled “Personal Home Security Footage Crestview Lane,” Alexis asked if Tracy remembered seeing Michael on the street that night. Looking at the folder, then across the courtroom to Michael, Tracy replied that she had seen her great-nephew outside. Shuffling the folders once again so that the label was hidden, Alexis stated she had no further questions. Irritated, Dante glared at his brother, then exited the courtroom, looking at his phone. Justine did damage control during cross-examination, establishing that there had been limited visibility that night due to the stormy weather, and it was pitch-black since Drew’s house had no outside lights.
Michael was the defense’s next witness, and as he and Tracy passed one another by the prosecution table, she grabbed his arm and whispered an apology. During Alexis’s questioning, Michael confirmed that he’d been on Crestview that night, but not at Drew’s house. When the attorney noted that being on the street meant that Michael had an opportunity, he insisted that he did not shoot Drew. After establishing that Michael had access to the weapon as a resident of the Quartermaine estate, Alexis questioned him about Willow and Drew’s affair and the tensions between them all due to the custody arrangement. Referring to the confrontation Drew and Michael had at the Metro Court over Wiley, Alexis asked Michael if he felt Congressman Cain was a danger to his children. When Michael replied yes, Alexis commented that Michael would do anything to protect his kids — and Drew smiled smugly.
Bait And Switch
At Lulu’s Nathan informed Lulu that Charlotte had lied about having a drama club meeting after school and went to the Quartermaines mansion instead. Lulu replied that the secure estate was one of the few places where she felt her daughter was safe, but Nathan worried that Charlotte was getting frustrated and might try to ditch her police guard. Although not surprised, Lulu was disappointed that she hadn’t gotten through to Charlotte during their conversation about her safety. She asked Nathan if he thought Charlotte would go looking for her father. Just then, Charlotte got home, and Lulu reprimanded her for the stunt she’d pulled. A panicked Charlotte assumed her mom had found out she’d gone to see her dad, but quickly covered that she’d needed a break from the officer assigned to her, so she’d hung out with Danny instead. Acknowledging that she’d been in the wrong, Charlotte offered to apologize to the officer and promised to update Lulu when her plans changed.
After Nathan left, Charlotte apologized to Lulu for having worried her, stating that she knew how horrible it was to constantly wonder if someone you loved was okay. Realizing her daughter was really talking about Valentin, Lulu reassured Charlotte that her father was resourceful and could take care of himself. Upstairs, Charlotte texted Danny, thanking him for his help earlier, and flashed back to Valentin telling her that she couldn’t visit again until he accomplished his goal. Danny texted back that they’d figure out a way to help her father.
An upset Tracy dropped by after testifying in court, and gave Lulu a run-down of what she’d been asked, based on home security footage Alexis had. Lulu thought it was odd that Alexis never made Tracy identify Michael or even submitted the proof as evidence. Stunned, Tracy realized that the attorney had been bluffing and that she’d played right into Alexis’s hands! Lulu pointed out that had she lied, Tracy would have made Michael look even guiltier and perjured herself, but Tracy insisted she would have done worse to prevent Michael from going to prison again. Then, Tracy asked Lulu to help figure out how Alexis even knew that she’d seen Michael outside Drew’s house.
Name That Tune
Back in the courtroom, Justine began her cross-examination by presenting the evidence bag containing the gun and asking Michael if he’d taken it from his great-grandfather’s study. After Michael responded that he hadn’t known the gun was even missing, Justine asked him to go through his actions the night of the shooting. Michael explained that after meeting Jacinda at the Port Charles Grill and talking to her about his kids, he decided to go ask Drew to keep his distance from Willow so she could see the children again. But after parking and getting out of the car, Michael explained, he got a call from the ringtone he had dedicated to his son. Realizing that a confrontation with Drew might make things worse for the kids, he got back into his car and headed home, having never entered Drew’s house. Finally, Michael told Alexis that he never heard gunshots while he was outside, and he was not the one who shot Drew.
Judge Sullivan then called a recess. Michael confided to Joss that he feared his testimony had given the jury enough reasonable doubt to find Willow not guilty. Across the courtroom, Alexis told Suzanne she was relieved her bluff with Tracy worked; since she couldn’t submit the anonymous tip as evidence, she had no way to prove that Tracy was lying if she’d denied seeing Michael on the street. Suzanne thought that some jurors still looked unconvinced, but Alexis hoped her next witness (i.e., Elizabeth, who had just entered the courtroom) would persuade them that Michael was a more likely shooter than Willow. Meanwhile, Drew crowed to his wife about how guilty Michael had looked. When Willow replied that she didn’t want to get her hopes up, Drew gloated that Tracy seeing Michael outside the house put the final nail in the coffin. Out in the hallway, Trina and Kai realized that Michael’s ringtone for Wiley must have been the “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” tune they heard that night, and suspected that Michael was the shooter.
Once the trial resumed, Elizabeth took the stand. She testified that not only had Michael visited her home when Willow was staying with her, but she’d left him alone at one point when she had to leave. Justine objected when Alexis commented that Michael would have had ample time to place the gun in Willow’s drawer, so Alexis rephrased and had Elizabeth confirm that Michael had been alone in the house before the police search turned up Edward’s gun.
Red Flag
Having been called back to the station to sign a warrant, Dante asked the desk officer to gather all the video footage from Willow’s case for him to review. Nathan then arrived, explaining that he’d come from Lulu’s. Frustrated that Turner had been blindsided in court, Dante asked why they weren’t aware that Michael had been on Crestview Lane the night of the shooting and shared that Tracy had admitted to seeing Michael on the street. The men went into the interrogation room, where Dante reluctantly said he hadn’t wanted to believe his brother was possibly the shooter because of the debt he owed him. Dante then told Nathan how being raped while imprisoned as a teenager had changed Michael, making him a man capable of murder, and it was all his fault for having convinced his brother to turn himself in in the first place.
When Dante worried that perhaps his guilt made him overcompensate for Michael, making it easier for his brother to frame Willow, Nathan assured the acting commissioner that there was no evidence in the case file that he’d improperly influenced the investigation. Dante argued that he knew Michael’s alibi was paper-thin, yet he didn’t push Jacinda harder, and now the whole trial was in jeopardy. Nathan offered to review all the files again once he logged a piece of evidence from another crime scene. When Nathan revealed that he’d left the cigarette butt in his car while he was inside Lulu’s house, Dante blasted the detective for breaking the chain of custody. Apologetic, Nathan chuckled that he was still shaking off the cobwebs, and a perturbed Dante replied that he needed the detective functioning at full capacity, especially since Chase was on leave and Anna was on WSB assignment. Then, Dante defended his decision to suspend Chase for undermining the investigation, but allowed that the other detective might have been right about Michael framing Willow, and he’d just overlooked it.
Are Carly and Valentin trading one danger for another by enlisting Sidwell’s help? Do you think that Dante suspects Nathan may have been the one who corrupted the PCPD’s evidence? Since Michael never stated what his son’s ringtone was, are Kai and Trina jumping to conclusions about him being inside the house that night? Share your theories about the latest episode of GH in the comments below!
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