GENERAL HOSPITAL: How to read between the lines on a soap

Anyone who has spent as much time watching daytime television as I have can easily start to guess how things are going to go on a soap.

Soap writers are never known for their subtlety. Sure, maybe in the past, some stories managed to take viewers by surprise – like Maxie getting BJ’s heart – but that was before the internet and spoilers sites.

General Hospital is reading like a children’s book these days and there are a lot of anvils being dropped in

certain stories.

For example: See Sonny find out Ava killed Connie. See Sonny throw barware. See Sonny fly to his island to confront her. See Sonny threaten to kill her. See Sonny say “you’re dead to me.” See Ava say she’s pregnant to save herself.

Oh, yup, I just went there. Honestly, how else are they going to save Ava? She’s killed Connie. She shot Olivia. She slept with her daughter’s husband. She slept with her boyfriend’s father. She let AJ take the fall for her. And that’s all in like a year.

I predict that Ava either lies about a pregnancy and has to run around trying to get pregnant or she really is pregnant and she’s either carrying Sonny’s child or grandchild (both scenarios skeeve me out).

I was talking about this on a few message boards and everyone started making their own predictions – which was fun. So I thought I would throw the rest of mine out there and track them for the next six months to see how I do.

So, here we go:

1. Baby Towel Drake (now known as Gabriel Drake Santiago) will either die or turn out to be Carlos’ kid. Right now, I’m leaning 75 percent toward the kid dying and 25 percent toward changed paternity. We all know Ron Carlivati doesn’t do straight baby storylines – I honestly can’t think of one that he’s done – so something is going to happen to Towel. Why do I think he’s going to die? It’s just the constant anvils: Emma singing that everything is going to be all right at the Nurses Ball, they gave him the name of an angel, everyone keeps saying he's getting stronger, etc. Also, we all know that Teresa Castillo is going to be departing on her real life maternity leave in the next two weeks or so. I have a hard time believing that the character of Sabrina is going to leave a sick baby to go to Puerto Rico (which is where the character is rumored to be going). And, if she were to take the baby with her, that is an affront to the character of Patrick who would never let his sick son leave. So, yeah, I’m leaning towards Towel taking a turn for the worse now that he’s been named after an angel. If that doesn’t happen, and the baby does survive, I see finding out that Carlos is the father after all – just when Patrick has bonded with the baby. I just don’t see this ending well for Patrick.

2. Levi is more than he appears. Let’s face it, Levi is the most annoying character to be introduced in

years (and that’s saying something since we’ve had to deal with characters like Sabrina, Felix and Rafe in the past 12 months) but he has to be more than just Maxie’s life guru. He’s showing signs of a controlling personality. He’s Australian, which opens the door for him to be related to the Jacks family on some level. I’m just guessing he’s not a good guy. Since Nathan is a cop – and they’re obviously eyeing him for Maxie – I’m going to guess that Levi is a thief or dangerous individual and Nathan is going to have to save her.

3. The Fluke reveal will be old school. Carlivati gets a kick out of using GH’s history – and then warping it. I’m guessing, whoever is masquerading as Luke these days, is going to have a tie to the soap’s history. I think the obvious choices right now are Bill Eckert, Damian Smith or Victor Jerome. My favorite scenario is Damian Smith. We all remember that he acted like he was in heat – and that’s definitely how Fluke is acting these days. I have issues with Fluke being revealed as Bill Eckert – and I don’t see that happening now that Ned has left again. If Ned were around, given his past with Jenny, it might make some (not a lot, but some) sense for Fluke to be Bill. Without Ned, though, that theory kind of flies out the window. Bill Eckert was many things – but he was not a bad father. If we’re to believe that Bill wasn’t killed, that means he abandoned Sly (maybe Sly is Levi?) for years. It’s possible, but I’m still liking the Damian Smith theory (and since Damian had an affair with Bobbie -- that could be all kinds of gross to see play out -- but in a morbid way). As for him being Victor? I think it’s possible, but Julian doesn’t exactly seem to have a family bond with the man – either good or bad. So, I guess I’m going the Damian Smith route (although I admit I could be way off on this one). Also, I might be giving RC too much credit. He might not even know who Fluke is yet -- which is entirely likely.

4. Silas will return to Nina out of obligation – but Sam and Silas will still be the love story. Carlivati

clearly loves Michael Easton’s chemistry with Kelly Monaco. Yes, Michelle Stafford is a big soap actress, but I don’t think that Nina and Silas will ultimately be the story. Sure, she’ll go after Silas and he’ll return to her out of guilt and obligation. I actually look for some revelation about Kiki being Nina’s kid, too, and Madeline giving Kiki to Ava to raise – but that’s probably farther down the road. For now, I expect Silas to return to Nina but pine for Sam. Sam will be the martyr and let him go. Silas and Sam won’t be able to stay away from each other, and we’ll find out Nina may have a little of her mother in her. Quite frankly, Stafford is too big of an actress for them not to at least attempt a chemistry test with Maurice Benard. I see them dumping Stafford in the Carly/Franco/Sonny group rather than the Sam/Silas group over the long haul. Short term? We’ll get Nina and Silas story. Long term? Nina has some sort of pairing with Sonny written all over her.

5. Liz and Nikolas still won’t get an actual romance. I’m not going to lie, Liz and Nik freak me out as a couple. It’s like watching a VC Andrews television movie – all that faux incest gets to me. Still, just looking at the situation, I don’t see them being a couple. Liz is with Ric now, even though Nik clearly wants her. Just a month ago Liz was professing her love to Nik but he told her to take a hike because he loved Britt. Then Britt betrayed him and he’s suddenly in love with Liz. Quite frankly, I see Liz deciding she wants to be with Nik and just when they get together we’ll find out that Britt is pregnant (something she’ll hide from Nik for a while). When he finds out, Nik won’t trust her but the two will slowly start bonding over the baby. Then Carlivati will make Liz insecure and have her go after Britt (we all know RC isn’t above ruining legacy GH characters to prop his creations – just ask AJ and Robin). And, ultimately, Nik and Britt will still be the love story. Also, I see them making Ric crazy again in this story just because they can – which kind of ticks me off.

6. Epiphany and Monica still won’t get airtime. That's pretty much a given.

7. Serena Baldwin is going to swing into town with attitude. The younger set has a few holes in it. I see Scotty and Lucy’s little hellion making her way into town and setting her sights on either Michael or Morgan. Either way, that will be the younger quadrangle.

Okay, what do you think? Make your predictions here.