General Hospital’s Anna Devane Returns After Months Off-Screen — With a Hidden Agenda
Anna (Finola Hughes) returned to General Hospital in the June 24 episode, appearing far more composed than when viewers last saw her in February. However, her behavior during a therapy session — and her actions after therapist Dr. Laurent (Kavi Ramachandran) left the room — suggested she may not be as forthcoming as she claims. While Anna insisted she has finally come to terms with what happened to her, her final scene hinted that she could have a larger agenda in mind.
Back to Reality
When Anna was last on screen, she was in hysterics because no one would believe her claims that Faison (Anders Hove) was still alive and had been responsible for her abduction. In her room at the French hospital where she’s been undergoing treatment, a seemingly placid Anna was crocheting on her bed when Dr. Laurent entered. During their session, Anna flashed back to her kidnapping but insisted to the psychiatrist that she now knew that she had never been abducted, and Faison couldn’t possibly be alive.
Furthering her false narrative, Anna claimed to understand that she had been brought back into the WSB for a mission connected to Faison, which had resurfaced all the trauma she’d suffered at the villain’s hands over the years and caused her to suffer a break with reality.
Anna also assured Dr. Laurent that her treatment had helped her to see what was real and what wasn’t, and she promised she would continue doing the work required to get better. Anna then planted the notion that talking to someone else who had known Faison might aid in her recovery — and just as she appeared to have hoped, the therapist soon placed a call to Felicia (Kristina Wagner), who was delighted to have the chance to speak with her dear friend.
When Dr. Laurent handed the phone to Anna, she told Felicia that she was feeling a lot better but she suggested that a visit would really help. Felicia quickly agreed to fly to France. As they wrapped up their visit, Dr. Laurent was pleased with Anna’s progress, but cautioned that they still had a long way to go.
After her therapist left, Anna pulled out a packet of letters from a bedside table and removed one in particular. She eyed the envelope — and then the door — with a steely gaze that suggested she was about to put some kind of plan in motion.
Mission Impossible?
Felicia’s impending visit could give Anna her first opportunity to communicate with someone she trusts since she’s been a patient at the French clinic. GH Head Writers Elizabeth Korte and Chris Van Etten may have given a huge clue about the significance of this in Soap Opera Digest’s exclusive summer preview when they teased that “Anna has the goods on Cassius [Ryan Paevey] but struggles to get the word out while institutionalized in France.”
If Anna is planning to warn Felicia that “Nathan” is really Cassius Faison, Faison’s secret son, it does stand to reason that Felicia might not believe her. After all, no one has believed anything Anna has told them since she escaped her captors!
The bigger mystery at play is just how much of Anna’s memory and perspective has returned during her treatment. The episode made it clear that Anna recalls her kidnapping and gaslighting at Cullum’s (Andrew Hawkes) hands, but does she still think that Faison and Peter (Wes Ramsey) are alive?
In the summer preview, Korte and Van Etten also warned that “the long-term effects of her imprisonment and gaslighting at Cullum’s hands” will become obvious as Anna’s return unfolds and that “any happy reunions with friends and family are colored by counsel from a less-than-reliable source.” Perhaps Peter or his father are still whispering in Anna’s ear!
Korte and Van Etten gave away one last nugget about Anna in the summer preview, which is, “We’ll see echoes of Anna’s earliest incarnation as she returns to Port Charles with deadly intentions.” Longtime fans will recall that when Anna was first introduced back in 1985, she was much less heroic, working as a jewel fence while secretly spying on her ex-husband, Robert Scorpio (Tristan Rogers) years after the duo’s marriage fell apart due to Anna’s status as a double agent with the WSB’s rival agency, the DVX.
Anna receiving bad counsel and having deadly intentions could add up to a whole lot of trouble — but for whom? Share your predictions about what Anna is up to in the comments below!
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