GENERAL HOSPITAL: How Rafe became another plot point

So General Hospital writer Ron Carlivati took in all the fan complaints over the past few months and fixed them.

He listened as fans complained about newbies taking over the show.

He listened as fans complained about killing off another child.

He listened as fans complained about plot-driven writing when they really wanted character-driven writing.

And he fixed it. No, he did.

How did he fix it?

He took the legacy character of Rafe (he’s a Barrington – he is a legacy character), made him a drug addict and then had him work for Fluke to run Patrick off the road and ultimately kill Gabriel. Then they had him try to run a police barricade – somehow fly out of the car (are there no airbags in Port Charles?) and die from a blow to the back of the head, even though he flew face first out of the car.

It makes perfect sense.

Oh, wait. What the heck is going on here?

This is the exact opposite of fixing things.

First off, if there was nothing for Rafe to do – and that was apparent – send the kid off to boarding school. Instead, we’re supposed to believe that Rafe got into drugs and let Fluke order him to knowingly run Patrick’s car off the road.

In what world?

Rafe may not have been a perfect kid, but he certainly wasn’t a purposeful murderer. He risked his life for Sam and Danny numerous times – and that was before he even knew them.

So Rafe was suddenly a drug-addicted thug – even though we hadn’t seen him on screen for months – and he’s perfectly fine with running Patrick off the road with a pregnant woman and a small child in the car.

The sad thing is, Rafe’s drug addiction could have been a decent story. As fans remember, Patrick spiraled down into drug addiction himself after Robin “died.” How great would a story of Patrick hating Rafe and then helping the kid go through rehab and come to terms with what he accidentally did (instead of turning Rafe into a hitman) been? It certainly would have been a superior story to what we got.

After directing his anger at the perpetrator who killed his son for all of five minutes – seriously, Sam and Patrick solved that case in an hour, so why couldn’t the PCPD – they blamed Silas, blamed Kiki and then figured out it was Rafe over the course of one conversation.

There was no flow. There was no buildup.

Then Molly jumped in the car with Rafe and they fled from the police – and tried to run a road block. That

sound you just heard was millions of GH fans collectively slamming their foreheads against their desks. It’s just ludicrous.

And, what’s even funnier is that Rafe isn’t dead quite yet. He’s just brain dead. I mean, just last week, Alice collapsed at ELQ and we found out she needed a new heart and – oh my stars and garters – here’s a heart for her. What are the odds of that?

Pretty big in Carlivati’s world, frankly. Why do you think Lulu is considering having a baby? Because Ava is going to need one to steal in nine months after Nina throws her down a flight of stairs. That’s why.

Why do you think immigration suddenly showed up at Maxie’s apartment? Because Levi called them himself to force Maxie into a green card marriage (just wait for it) to try and keep her away from Nathan.

Carlivati needs to stop with his current mantra: All plot all the time, none of that pesky character development.

He needs to reverse course, take a long look around, and fix what he’s broken. Sure, Bob Guza actually broke GH. Carlivati is desecrating the corpse, though, and it’s gone from mildly irritating to repugnant.

Fans want to see what’s going on with Lucy, Felicia, Kevin and Scotty.

Fans want Monica trotted out for more than a medical malady. We haven’t seen her since AJ’s funeral, for crying out loud.

Fans want to see some romance – and Nathan and Maxie can’t carry the entire show.

I will give Carlivati some (minor) kudos, though: Revitalizing the Brownstone was a great idea. All these

young hipsters that are living with family members would actually have a place to live together – and that could be entertaining while also being a nod to the past.

That’s the only good thing – besides Nathan and Maxie (I know, I sound like a broken record) – right now, though.

Because there’s certainly no rooting value in Nina and Ava – the airhogs of summer. There’s certainly no rooting value in the rapist with a brain tumor, Franco. There’s certainly no rooting value in Ric faking his death and letting Julian go free. And there’s certainly no rooting value in Jordan and Anna having hilariously public conversations in the park.

Shape up Carlivati. Fans have put up with enough. We want our show back.

What do you think? Did Carlivati make a mistake killing off Rafe?