General Hospital: Nikolas And Ava's Revenge Plot Doesn't Bode Well For Esme

On "General Hospital," Ava Jerome (Maura West) has been receiving photos of Austin Gatlin-Holt's (Roger Howarth) dead body, along with cryptic notes saying things like "You're welcome" and "Don't tell anyone." She also found a gun in her desk drawer with the note, "You'll never know when you'll need it." As this was unfolding, we asked ourselves if Nikolas Cassadine (Adam Huss) was her stalker.

After all, she thought she'd killed him, only to learn that Austin, her erstwhile late love, secretly helped steal Nik's body and get him patched up. It was reasonable to assume Nik was behind the notes and photos, and on the January 3 episode, he showed up at Ava's art gallery, putting a hand over her mouth and scaring the living daylights out of her. She thought he was seeking revenge for having almost killed him, and for a moment we thought he was going to kill her. But deep down, Nikolas isn't really a murderer. (Okay, we'll give him a free pass for the time he tried to have Hayden Barnes (Rebecca Budig) assassinated, but that was a botched job anyway.)

During the confrontation, Ava accused him of killing Austin and stalking her but believed his assertion that he wasn't the culprit. He laid the blame for all the chaos in their lives at the feet of none other than the evil Esme Prince (Avery Pohl).

The whole mess between Ava Jerome and Nikolas Cassadine on "General Hospital" began when Esme Prince's father, the late serial killer Ryan Chamberlain (Jon Lindstrom), ordered her to break them up. One of her tactics was to seduce Nik, and when the truth came out, Ava dropped him like a hot potato. When Esme turned up pregnant, he panicked and locked her up in one of the towers of his castle. She eventually escaped by jumping off of a parapet, only to find her way back to Port Charles with amnesia. After attempting to redeem herself for almost a year, Esme began to get her memory back on the December 22, 2023 episode.

While we kind of believe Nik didn't kill Austin, we know that Ava murdered a few people in her time, so their team-up could spell doom for Esme. No one but her mother, the murderous Heather Webber (Alley Mills), knows that her memories are back, and the old Esme was almost as cunning as Hannibal Lecter. If Nik and Ava put a diabolical scheme in place to take her down, Esme could put them through a terrific game of cat-and-mouse.

But the new Esme also has memories of the past year where she felt bad for committing heinous acts that she didn't remember doing. That softening of her point of view might be her weak spot and lead to her her undoing if she tangles with the lethal Ava and ruthless Nikolas.