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Thursday, July 24, 2008

Commentary with a Co-Ed: General Hospital's Night Shift


by Ashley Gouveia

This past Tuesday night General Hospital’s Nightshift returned for its second season on SOAPnet. Yay! I for one loved the first season of the soap’s spin-off.

OK, there were some major continuity issues with this show and the daytime drama last year. (Jason’s in jail on one and Jason’s mopping floors on the other). But I loved how Nightshift went back to its GH roots and was all about the hospital and the doctors who work there. It certainly didn’t waste any time because within the first ten minutes of the premiere a car crashed into the ER, someone died, and an old face came back to town.

When a car crashed into the emergency room causing a pregnant Robin to be knocked unconscious and several others to be injured, it was up to Patrick and the others to go into damage control. How quick it was for them to get rid of Dr. Ford. One minute he passed out from blood loss and the next Patrick is giving a eulogy-esque speech to the employees at the hospital. I know that they probably wanted to get rid of his character to make room for Patrick to become the new Chief of Staff. But I felt like it was a little rushed for a character that has been on both the spin-off and GH for a while now.

While Robin reluctantly took a day off from work to recover, Jagger Cates, played by the always-adorable Antonio Sabato Jr., returned after a 13-year-absence from the show. I loved his and Patrick’s first encounter. Thinking that it’s Robin in the shower, Patrick continues to talk to her from her living room, only to discover a half naked Jagger coming out of her bathroom. Awkward for him; great for us! Poor Patrick was caught off guard and his insecurity was seeping through. I laughed out loud at his line about being grateful that Jagger wasn’t a burglar or he would have had to mess him up.

In the last five minutes of this week’s episode, Jagger showed up at Robin’s place with his son Stone, named after his late younger brother and Robin’s first love. As we saw in the preview for next week, Robin suspects that there may be something wrong with Stone. I guess we’ll have to wait and see on that one. I’m curious to see what it will turn out to be.

Last season the Pink Nurses were the new kids on the block, but this year it’s two young residents who are trying to fit in. Newbies Kyle and Claire are trying to make it through their residency without being yelled at by an arrogant Dr. Julian. Speaking of Leo, why did the original actor leave? Why is this character suddenly an uptight jerk? I didn’t quite understand why he was so nasty toward the young residents. His character was never that mean before. It was like he was channeling Eriq LaSalle’s Dr. Benton from ER. Then it was revealed that good ol’ Kyle is actually Leo’s brother. Yeah, I didn’t see that one coming.

All in all I will definitely be keeping up with this show throughout the summer. With the promise of Robert Scorpio to return it can only get better from here. Plus, if you love Patrick’s Jason Thompson as much as I do, then it’s a must see.


Commentary with a Co-Ed is a weekly column at Tube Talk new every Friday

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