General Hospital Message Board

Luke grew up poor, raised in a cathouse...

He decided he wanted some power, ran a mob sponsored club in a pragmatic way...until the loyalty test. The Mob asked him to be a cold blooded hitman. He had great distaste for the job, as evidenced by how drunk he was the night before, the night he raped Laura...

And the writers revised that (I don't want to get into a long spiel about the rape, that isn't the issue of this post.)

By the following summer he wanted to make himself and Laura immune from mob retaliation so much they had their "on the run" thing.

After that summer he was on to building a relationship with Laura (Carefully, because she'd asked for Scotty right at the end there and really pissed Luke off)... And the next year, the mob got forgotten,they were fighting the Cassadines then, with world domination weather machines..etc etc.

Laura was Cassi-napped and produced Nik...

Luke was elected mayor and she came back.

In the intervening years, Frank Smiths mob obviously "found"them and chased them relentlessly.

But there's no indication that Luke had any long term flings with the next pretty girl that showed up in the offscreen period of 1984-1993. Sure he had brief encounters...but they meant nothing. Laura knew that, and Tracy knows that now too. And Laura was no Carly, drifting off to a Lorenzo, or even a Jax type.

Laura threw Luke out when he got too embroiled in the Mob in May of 1995 and their house got shot up. She meant it. She hated every minute of it, but by that action showed what the safety of Lucky and Lulu meant to her.

If the mob stayed at that level, where there was still *the rest of the town* to consider, that would leave room for some romance at least (And the Q's! Pout...)
Yes, the mob was in the mix....But Luke never sold his soul to the mob. (I don't count the deal with Johnny because Luke will be gone again soon and it will evaporate)
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Sonny sold his soul to the Mob ages ago, a lifer who has to have several bodyguards plus Jase. Killing and retaliation and vengeance and vendetta...that's the rush. Bloodbaths. and now a very close piece of collateral damage, Michael.

And now enter Claudia and Anthony who've already given up. They have no morals it's just scheme and injury and death til the end.

Sonny builds "relationships" with his latest POA's, thinks this is The One After Carly. But he's not admitting that the only real love he had was Brenda. Carly's just hung in there longer and tougher than Lily, (not Lily's fault admittedly she got blown up) Hanna Banana, Alexis, Sam, Reese, Jordan, and now Kate.

Mob as centerpiece is an empty hollow show.

Mob as sometimes dangerous scary obstacle...there's still room for escapism, and continuity and family histories...

If you're going to kill the show Bob, just freaking do it so those of us who don't wuv the Deathcount Serial Killer/Sweeps Crisis/Mob Violence can reset our recording devices.