TV Review: General Hospital: Night Shift - "Fallen Star"

Disappointment seemed to be the key phrase on Thursday's Night Shift, the biggest coming when Curtis showed up at the hospital with a DNA test proving he was the father of Stacy's baby. In a calculated and obviously distant way, he went about filling out the paperwork to take custody of the child, closing out any chance Robin had of adopting her. After rather callously saying he had never wanted kids, and it was the reason he and Stacy had broken up, he insisted he wouldn't let the child grow up alone, but he would be the one to raise her, without Robin's help.

Paternity has been a long-running theme tying the episodes of the series together. Whether it was through Jason's desire to be with his child, the teenager whose personality was altered by the head injury, Robin and Patrick's polar opposite view on the subject, or that of Stacy and her baby, what it means to be a parent has been thoroughly examined. I don't think it's coincidental that Curtis, like Patrick, never wanted to be a father, but I do hope he's doesn't have the ugly motive (which Robin suspects) of wanting the child's inheritance.

The only new patient to be focused on this week was also a mother-to-be, a fifteen-year-old girl who came to the ER in labor. While she was suffering through and screaming for drugs, her boyfriend and two members of his gang showed up – eagerly awaiting the birth of his son. After a run-in with Cody in the lobby that would indicate the gang deals drugs, the leader and baby's father began to harass Dr. Lee. Student nurse Regina, who was caring for the patient, went to the desk and told Epiphany to alert security, but since Jason was there to overhear, and then handle the situation with Cody's help, they weren’t needed.

Plagued with the memories of her recent abortion, Regina wasn't handling the delivery well at all. When Kelly asked her to put a medication in the patient's IV to help stop the uterine bleeding, she made a mistake, and with MedCam still looming to take over the hospital, Dr. Ford decided to put her on probation. As she cleaned out her locker, Jolene tried to convince her to get Patrick to stand up for her or tell Dr. Ford about her abortion to save her place in the student nursing program, but she refused, unaware Dr. Julian had overheard the conversation. Taking matters into his own hands, as Regina tried to leave the hospital he ordered her back into her scrubs saying they were short-staffed and he needed her for an emergency. His attempts to get her back in the game and over the mistake seemed to be working, but as Dr. Ford looked on, I can only wonder at what price.

Article Author: Connie Phillips

Wife, mother, aspiring novelist, and music editor at BC Magazine, Connie Phillips spends most of her time in a fantasy land of her own creating. In reality, she writes about music, television, and the process of writing, when she's not cheering on her kids at equestrian events. …

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