Making the Rounds at General Hospital – Performance Anxiety and Rising Tensions

On Thursday's General Hospital:

The invitations to the Black and White Ball were being delivered and Spinelli had a hard time delivering the goods.

Before Spinelli left for the hospital to make his contribution to Robin's baby project, Jason tried to warn him of the implications. He reminded him Robin wanted him to take no part in the child's upbringing and confided he hurts every day over not being able to be with Jake, but Spin seemed undeterred. It was a completely different story once he got to the hospital though, as he buckled under the strain of a command performance and called Jason as a stand-in. I think we all know that's not going to happen!

Patrick continued to nose around, first hijacking Dr. Lee's appointments to find out Spinelli had agreed to become a donor and later trying once again to talk Robin out of her plan.

I believe Robin has had to scratch off all the names on her would-be-daddy list. I'm not sure where she'll go from here. She's been against the idea of a sperm bank from the beginning, but without any other options I wonder if she'll change her mind. Or maybe, just maybe, the viewers will get lucky and Patrick will realize he's resisting Robin's desires so much because he wants to be the one she has children with.

In what I can only guess is an attempt to give him an advantage should the brewing mob war turn ugly, Luke sought out Trevor and offered to broker the deal for Lorenzo's waterfront property, giving the Zs port access. Later, he met with Skye to convince her to allow him to handle the sale. She informed Luke Ric was also interested in being the one to broker the deal.

While Luke was putting himself in a position to protect his daughter (and make a little pocket change), Lulu was throwing herself into that fire. She went out to visit Johnny and return his mother's locket and the two talked outside the gates of the property, both unaware that Anthony was watching and listening.

I'm not sure why, but Sonny tried talking to his brother about the Zacchara situation, telling him it was Trevor who was running the whole show and had been for quite some time. Even though Ric holds no great love for his father, it seems he holds his disdain for his brother even closer to his heart and suggested it might better serve his interests to work with his father to eliminate Sonny than the other way around.

As usual for Kate, she arrived at Sonny's office just in time to hear Ric spout off some threats. Before leaving he tossed around Sonny's bipolar disorder, trying to scare off Kate and push Sonny off kilter. He's such a weasel, however, I don't think he was effective in either attempt.

The mob war is poised to heat up during November sweeps, and from this build-up it looks like we have something darker and edgier to look forward to. There are new faces in this game, so I don't expect it to be the same ol' boring idle threats we saw when it was Lorenzo battling the Corinthos organization. With the addition of some older faces as well (Luke), I'm actually looking forward to this one.

Carly also received an invite to the Black and White Ball, which I sort of found suspicious as Nikolas tried to kill her with his letter opener just a week ago. At the same time she received a text saying 'see you at the ball.' Another clue pointing toward Nikolas? It just seems too easy, but it does narrow the list of suspects.

Sam went to the hospital, supposedly to have some stitches removed, but it certainly appeared to be for the sole purpose of starting a fight with Liz. Nikolas arrived in time to hear Sam ripping on his longtime friend, and told her it was an inappropriate conversation to be having at the hospital. She stomped off in a huff, but later showed up at Wyndemere, finding Nikolas on the eerie, castle-like balcony. Unaware of his bouts with rage, she continued pushing at him until he grabbed her and bent her back over the wall at episode's end. A literal cliffhanger worthy of a Friday episode, we get to tune in today to see how Sam gets herself out of this one.