Brief General Hospital Interlude: John Brennan, We Barely Knew You

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Why did GH cut this tale short?

What just happened on General Hospital? For months — years, it felt like — all we heard about was the evil Pikeman, who was evil and who controlled all the evil, and who ran all the evil, and was evil — evil, we tell you! This was a person all should fear, and none could escape.

John Brennan: Protection Racket

Sonny (Maurice Benard), naturally, was against such evil coming to Port Charles. He wasn’t eager to jump on board when Valentin (James Patrick Stuart) said Pikeman wanted to run their weapons through Sonny’s mob-controlled docks (it was an immediate NO, as seen here). What kind of man did Valentin think Sonny was? Someone who would let the criminal element into Port Charles and risk causing damage to innocent people?

Connect Four

Anna (Finola Hughes) was the one who figured out that Pikeman was connected to the WSB, while Michael (Chad Duell) and Dex (Evan Hoffer) were the ones who were going to use Pikeman to bring down Sonny. There was also Betty, the snoopy nanny, and Ava (Maura West), and Mason, and lions, and tigers, and bears, oh, my! The point is, for a while there, it seemed like all of Port Charles was talking about who was really behind Pikeman.

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Hello, Dolly

And then, we finally met him. John Brennan (Charles Mesure). And, hmm, what do you know, it looked like maybe the hype was worth it. He was well-spoken. He was charming. But with enough menace to make us believe that maybe he really could pose a true danger to Port Charles…and do it all with a smile.

When Brennan began hanging around Carly (Laura Wright) and her meatloaf, we even thought we saw the sparks of possibility in a romantic pairing. He was certainly more interesting than Drew (Cameron Mathison). And he wouldn’t be intimidated by Sonny.

Can’t Have Nice Things

But, nope. Within a few weeks — doesn’t it feel like days — Brennan was identified, targeted, and arrested — thanks to Carly’s quick action with a serving tray. Anna slapped on the cuffs. While we were left to wonder…was that it? All that buildup and Brennan came and went in the blink of an eye? What was the point? And oh, what a waste!

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