Fans Are Furious That General Hospital Downplayed Charlotte's Crime
Content warning: The following article contains references to gun use.
Things have gone from bad to worse for Anna Devane (Finola Hughes) on "General Hospital." Fearing the threat of a mystery stalker who's been terrorizing her, Anna returned to her new apartment on the November 6 episode and found her door unlocked. Reasonably assuming the assailant was inside, she drew her gun and pushed open the door, ordering the mysterious person shrouded in darkness to freeze. When the intruder turned with what appeared to be a gun, Anna opened fire, dropping her opponent. What she didn't know was that the person she shot was Charlotte Cassadine (Scarlett Fernandez), the daughter of her boyfriend Valentin Cassadine (James Patrick Stuart). Young Charlotte's web of secrecy involved her ditching her friends while trick-or-treating, donning a black hooded cloak, and using her stolen key to gain entry to Anna's place.
On November 6, the show posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, a picture of the unconscious girl, with the caption: "Charlotte was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Can Anna save her (and figure out why she was in her apartment to begin with)?" The fans went ballistic at this wording, as one angrily wrote: "Wrong place, wrong time?????????????? SHE BROKE INTO ANNA'S APARTMENT." Many responders felt the same as another viewer noted, "That's what we're calling breaking and entering now?!"
Charlotte obviously knew what she was doing, and clearly "GH" needs to carefully consider its verbiage before posting something erroneous on social media.
Finola Hughes' performance was lauded
In response to "General Hospital" downplaying the horrifying shooting of Charlotte Cassadine by Anna Devane, one fan directly questioned the show on X, writing: "Did you watch the same scene I did? Charlotte stole Anna's keys & entered Anna's apt. with intent to steal or vandalize Anna's property. She also put on an appearance-altering costume." The viewer then praised the performances while also commenting on the post's caption with, "For the record, the actors did a great job, this summary, not so much." The fans felt Finola Hughes did a spectacular job of going from action mode to caretaker in a heartbeat, as evidenced by the response: "She shot an INTRUDER‼️ It was her ONLY choice‼️ HOWEVER, once Anna realized who it was she went into IMMEDIATE life-saving mode!"
The fans laid the blame at Valentin's feet because he knew Charlotte had already snuck into Anna's previous hotel room and suspected she burned down Anna's house among other things. Yet he chose not to reveal this, fully knowing Anna was a former spy capable of using deadly force when threatened. As one viewer perfectly explained: "She was systematically stalking and terrorizing a known former intelligence agent. She willingly put herself into a bad situation."
Immediately after the shooting, Charlotte's friend Jake Webber (Hudson West) — who had been trick-or-treating with her — showed up, horrified that she'd been shot. This now begs the question: How did Jake know to go to Anna's apartment?