General Hospital Message Board

Not saying that I actually heard this, but......I could have...

DZ: (Totally mystified by the script. He goes to Guza demanding answers.) Hey, Bob. Got a minute or two?

Guza: Sure, Dom. Always happy to oblige a prop...um...a new star.

DZ: I'm having a problem understanding my character's motivation in keeping Sonny out of jail. I mean, Dante had the jerk dead to rights after Sonny shot him at point blank range.

Guza: That was a great scene. Mo will be sure to win an emmy for it. Heck, you might get one for supporting actor there. Didn't Sonny just send a tingle running down your leg?

DZ: Um, no. Sonny is a murdering thug who just shot a cop in cold blood. My character just called him a cold-blooded killer, nearly died on the operating table and has a long recovery. Now you want Dante to lie under oath to see that Sonny gets off? What kind of idiot do you think Dante is?

Guza: (ignoring that last crack) Great work. You looked really almost dead there.

DZ. Um, Bob, my character looks like a corrupt fool.

Guza: And as such, will fit right in with the PCPD which will be his new employer when he gets fired for lying.

DZ: But why does Dante do it? Is it because he's a complete idiot? Did he suffer brain damage due to oxygen deprivation? What happened to him? He went from hard-nosed cop with a heart of gold to idiot in less than one episode.

Guza: Like father, like son. Heart of gold and like that.

DZ: How is sending a murdering thug back into the streets heart of gold stuff? Now that he's back there, he gets to commit more crimes, kill more people, corrupt his kids more, continue running his criminal empire. This is completely anti-Dante. It's not working for me.

Guza: But it is working for Sonny who is the star of our show and for Jason, his sidekick who is actually the brains of the outfit. This creates conflict between them. Sonny is so proud of his son the cop, nevermind that he tried to kill him--wouldn't have happened had Olivia told him the truth, you know--so it's all on her, not on Sonny.

DZ (shaking his head, his eyes rolling wildly.) Her fault? Sonny pulled the freakin' trigger.

Guza: Of course he did. He's The Godfather and killing people is part of his job description, especially if the shootee is an undercover cop who made a fool of him--I mean, who used his family to get close to him. Besides, this is going to give Jason some really great material.

DZ: Enlighten me.

Guza (eyes glowing in anticipation) Jason is dedicated, he's motivated. He lives to be an enforcer. It's who he is, but he has a kinder, gentler side left over from his Jason Quartermaine days that he can't quite shed. You know, the kind of guy who helps little old ladies across streets, takes naive geeks under his wing and corrupts them, all the while making sure that Sonny's enemies disappear without a trace. Except for Claudia, that is. He bungled that one and now, it is coming back to bite him in that very fine backside.

DZ: How does that pertain to Dante?

Guza: Jason likes Dante, aside from the fact that Dante is a cop and wants to send them all to prison for the rest of their lives. That just messes with the whole setup. Now, add to that the fact that Dante has the goods on Sonny, and not just for the Claudia thing, but enough stuff to take down the whole operation.

DZ: Didn't Dante already turn that stuff in? Even if Dante is killed off, he's already got the goods on them?

Guza: No problem--if we can have corrupt cops, we can have corrupt Feds. Everybody has his/her hand out and The Corinthos Family knows which palms to grease. But, Dante is incorruptible and that is a problem.

DZ: Dante just lied under oath, in front of the judge, on sworn testimony. That's corrupt.

Guza: Ignore that. We did. What we want to focus on is that Jason badly wants to kill Dante to protect Sonny and Michael. After all, it's Jason's fault that Dante got in and fooled everybody. And, since he's Sonny's kid and Sonny will protect his kid, Jason can't just whack him. It's really griping Jason's soul. SB gets to emote here. Great, great stuff!!

DZ: But all Dante has to do is to tell the truth and all is well. Sonny goes to jail, Jason is arrested, same thing. Max and Milo get the same treatment. It's a no-brainer.

Guza: It's not that easy, Dom. We do that and we have no show. You have to understand that it's All About Sonny.

DZ: The show is called General Hospital, Bob. There are doctors and nurses here, saving lives.

Guza: They saved Dante who is Sonny's son. Great work. Didn't you see Dr. Webber quake with fear when Sonny threatened him if he did not save Dante's life?

DZ: I saw that scene and I thought that Dr. Webber saw Sonny for the posturing, arrogant ass that he is. He wasn't quaking with fear, only trying to keep from tossing Sonny out on his ass.

Guza: You were unconscious, Dante.

DZ: Dante may have been unconscious, but I watched the scene in the privacy of my own home.

Guza: Wasn't Sonny magnificent? He was a man driven by the need to make his first born son understand that he loves him and regrets having shot him. That's going to take some doing.

DZ: Ya think?

Guza: Absolutely. Dante is difficult. All this time, he's thought that his mother was a trashy skank who slept around to the point that she had no idea who his father was. That reflected on his self-image such that he had to become a cop to make up for his mother being such a ho.

Dante: I thought that Dante became a cop to kill the guy that killed his mentor.

Guza: I'm talking deeper motivation here. I mean, how could he tell his mother the real reason? Now that he knows that his father is really Sonny Corinthos, Godfather with a heart of gold, it's all good. Dante can actively consider changing his job and doing what comes naturally--taking over the organization.

DZ (his mind reeling at all of this): So Dante is going to take over?

Guza: Of course not. Sonny is the star of the show and so if Dante wants to take over, he's going to have to take Sonny down first. I mean, Sonny is in his prime.

DZ: But you just said.....

Guza: I said 'consider' doing it. That's all. He goes back to being an incorruptible cop.

DZ: Letting a murdering thug go is not incorruptible.

Guza: It is if it's Sonny and he's your father. It's a family thing. Besides, Michael wants to run the organization and he's going to have to fight Sonny and Jason for that privilege. Besides, he's going to hate your guts since you're Sonny's natural son and Sonny loves you.

DZ: My head hurts. Let me see--Jason wants to kill Dante whom he really does like, but Sonny won't let him.

Guza: Great, isn't it? Sonny and Jason are working at cross purposes again. The audience is going to love it. Imagine Sonny realizing that Jason believes that the only way to protect him and the organization is to kill Dante. Sonny will do anything to save his son which means he may have to kill Jason. He takes out a hit on his best friend, on Carly's true love..

DZ: Didn't you do this before?

Guza: Wash, rinse, repeat. This is a soap. If it worked once, it'll work again, especially with three hunks in the storyline. That's Sonny, Jason and you.

DZ: So Jason takes a bead on Dante while Sonny is drawing a bead on Jason all the while Dante is about to take Sonny down? What about Jax? I thought that he was one of your major hunks?

Guza: Jax is a good guy which means that he's a bad guy, but not really bad so he can't really be good. It's complicated. Besides, since we can throw Michael in as a wild card--brain damage, you know, he can do anything and get away with it. Heck, we're thinking about having him kill Keefer. He can get a pass on that because he's brain-damaged and Keefer is screwing with his sister and abusing her. It's all good.

DZ: (Trying to get into the spirit of things on Bizarro GH) Okay, I think that I'm starting to get it. How about Dante decides that he's got to kill Sonny and Jason to save them both from prison? He learns that Sonny is claustrophobic and that he'll never survive prison. He also realizes that losing Sonny would kill Jason. It's the kind, merciful thing to do.

Guza: Sorry, kid, the motivation is all wrong. Besides, you are a cop. Dante just can't go around arbitrarily killing bad guys who are really good guys in an alternate lifestyle. It would turn him into a really bad guy. See, Dante knows better and is a cop. That means that if he does wrong, it's infinitely worse than if Sonny or Jason does bad. That's part of their job description, so if they murder people, it's good.

DZ: (mentally thanking heaven that he has only a few weeks until he has an out in his contract.) Um, thanks, Bob. Look, I have a call to make to my agent. Catch you later!