General Hospital threw viewers a twist over the summer when Finola Hughes returned to the story canvas as Anna Devane, who’d been getting well in a mental facility in France.
Actually, it turned out that she wasn’t getting fully well. Anna was seeing visions of the late Peter August (Wes Ramsey) and had convinced herself that she needed to rid the world of Cesar Faison’s (Anders Hove) surviving child (as far as Anna knows), Dr. Britt Westbourne (Kelly Thiebaud).
The story climaxed when Anna lured Britt to a remote location and planned to shoot her dead. Hughes was charged with played a woman who truly believed the voices in her head while she went about her day, interacting with friends and colleagues, acting is if things were business as usual.
Meanwhilie, Thiebaud’s Britt must think that not only Anna but many in Port Charles are unwell. She saved Joss’s (Eden McCoy) life, but people tend to dismiss that as if Britt had merely held a door open for someone and hadn’t gotten a thank you.
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It’s one thing to not have people be nice to you, as folks have been unjustly so with Britt. It’s another when someone flat out wants to kill you for something you haven’t even done!
Thiebaud played Britt as a woman completely taken off guard when Anna held at gun at her. The good doctor was gripped with fear, trapped in a “fight or flight” mode as she weighed trying to reason with Anna or opting to remain silent, hoping that her life would be spared.
We saw Hughes’ Anna walk the line of mental deficiency. Yes, she knew on one level that she shouldn’t be trying to harm Britt. But tell that to the vision of Peter August who kept urging her to do otherwise.
Britt’s hero, Jason (Steve Burton), figured out that Anna might have gone over the edge, and he raced to the remote wooded area where Anna was holding a gun on Britt. He calmly talked her down, but there was no guarantee that he was going to succeed.
Anna informed Jason that he wasn’t going to be able to get to her before she could pull the trigger. Mentally, Anna was not herself, but Hughes never manages to let viewers forget that Anna is a superspy extraordinaire. She can kill if she needs to and don’t you ever forget it!
When Jason confirmed to Anna that yes, he did love Britt, we saw Thiebaud let that wash over her character. The unlikely couple, affectionally dubbed “JaBritt” (or “Jason Westbourne”), hasn’t had much time together since his return to Port Charles. Britt wasn’t sure she was going to survive this moment, despite Jason’s arrival, but she took solace in knowing that if she were going to die, she’d perish knowing that Jason loved her.
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There’s nothing quite like watching someone change their mind in a scene and we hoped that’s what we were witnessing as Jason chipped away at Anna until she realized that she was doing the wrong thing.
But was Jason reaching Anna? Then, in Anna’s mind, Peter appeared and hissed that no one was safe with Britt being there. “You’re right. I have to end this. You’re just like your father. And I won’t let you beat me!” Anna declared.
With those words, she fired her gun at Faison’s child. We held our breaths during the commercial break, wondering if her bullets had hit their intended target.
They had, but Britt was no longer the person Anna wanted to vanquish — she fired shots at the image of Peter, even though she was the only one who saw him. Jason had reached Anna, and Anna was able to reconcile what she had felt compelled to do with what she knew was the right thing. Anna turned a corner. She found relief and came to fully realize what she had been doing and that it was wrong.
Jason brought her home and when asked by her granddaughter, Emma (Braedyn Bruner), if she’d be OK, Anna stoically replied, “No. But I will be.”
Meanwhile, Thiebaud played Britt as justifiably furious! Anna has a sterling reputation in Port Charles so, Britt had to fight twice as hard to convince everyone that she had been wronged.
Britt started with Joss as she tried to bring Anna to justice. She wanted a straightjacket put on her. “She tried to kill me!” Britt exclaimed.
Britt told Joss that Anna had heard voices in her head and that she was determined to take her out. She demanded answers as to how Anna would be dealt with. “You cannot sit back and do nothing, Josslyn,” Britt shouted. “This woman is unhinged. She runs a police force for God’s sake!”
Thiebaud brought a heightened but totally called-for response to Britt’s ordeal. In Port Charles, when good guys do bad things, they’re often given a pass, or, in the case, as Joss was doing with Anna, the benefit of the doubt.
Joss began to believe Britt was in danger, though. She offered to let her stay at her place where Anna might not think to look for her. It was the least she could do as Britt saved her life.
Kudos to Hughes and Thiebaud, two actresses at the top of their respective games, for delivering powerful performances as Anna hit her breaking point and Britt behaved as if the world around her had gone crazy. The two Daytime Emmy-winners gave tour de forces in this story that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Brava!
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC