General Hospital’s Josh Kelly: ‘Cody’s Gut’ Is Telling Him To Come Clean With Ava (Exclusive)
With Tracy’s (Jane Elliot) wise counsel ringing in his ears and Maxie’s (Kirsten Storms) health crisis making him take stock of his life — not to mention his budding feelings for honorable Molly (Kristen Vaganos) — General Hospital‘s Cody Bell is considering pulling the plug on his lucrative deal with Kristina (Kate Mansi) to seduce Ava (Maura West) away from Ric (Rick Hearst). Soap Opera Digest checked in with Cody’s portrayer, Josh Kelly, about what’s driving his character’s attack of conscience.
Confession Is Good For The Soul
According to Kelly, Cody took Tracy to heart when she reacted to his confession that he was being paid to keep company with Ava by urging him to see himself as he is now, not as how he once was. “That got under his skin,” the actor says. “He does want acceptance from Tracy and he feels like he’s letting her down. I think a lot of people don’t learn our lesson, so we keep getting in trouble. That’s been true for Cody, but I think Cody is kind of done. He’s starting to see that he can have a real life and he doesn’t have to settle for just trying to hustle his way through life to get by. He has been building friendships and relationships and his life could have more value than just making a little bit of money if he’s true to the people that have been good to him.”
The bond he has forged with his father and the rest of Mac’s clan — which includes Felicia and the now-hospitalized Maxie and her kids — has been a big part of this revelation for Cody. “He’s part of a family now,” Kelly points out. “He’s really been kind of filling the role of uncle and almost like a father figure for James, and with what’s going on with Maxie, he really feels like he needs to step up.”
All of which is leading him to the conclusion that his arrangement with Kristina is not in alignment with the person he wants to be. Observes Kelly, “He’s justified this Ava deal as a win-win, you know? He’ll make some money, and he’s kind of helping Ava, because Ric isn’t into her anyway — at least, not as into her as he is Elizabeth. But in actuality, he’s just distancing himself from a real relationship and a real connection” — which is to say, the one that has sparked up between him and Molly.
Continues Kelly, “Cody is realizing that being more Mac-like, and embracing some of the nature of his biological father, he would actually have a more fulfilling life, a less chaotic life.”
At the end of Thursday’s episode, Ava showed up at the stables, giving Cody the perfect opportunity to ‘fess up. But will he actually do so, especially since he’s unaware of his presence in Molly’s fantasies and thinks he doesn’t have a shot with her? Explains Kelly, “I played it and justified it very early on in Cody’s psyche as, ‘Molly’s not into me.’ He assumes that Molly had told Kristina that, because why else would her sister want him to do this? He’s thinking, ‘If Molly had any feelings for me, Kristina wouldn’t have hatched this plan.’ ”
Molly aside, though, “Cody’s gut has been telling him, and Tracy has been telling him, that it is no longer the easy out to take the money,” Kelly sums up. “It’s gotten too difficult and too complicated. So, the path of least resistance is to come clean.”
Are you liking how GH has handled Cody’s evolution? Let us know in the comments below!
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