Why Avery Pohl Dreaded Her First General Hospital Kiss

Avery Pohl's introduction into the "General Hospital" world was a memorable one. Picture this: Boy meets girl, and lies to her about his identity after secretly causing drama behind the scenes. They slowly fall for each other, only for his newly revealed girlfriend to come in at the wrong — or right  — moment, after setting someone's car on fire, per Soaps in Depth. 

Soaps.com dubbed Pohl's character, Esme Prince, a "remorseless schemer" because of how well the "GH" newcomer plays her. Pohl is so convincing in her role as serial killer Ryan Chamberlain's (Jon Lindstrom) secret daughter that her controversial storylines have sparked Twitter hate. As far as daytime debuts go, the actress and dancer had a strong start. The love triangle between Esme, Spencer Cassadine (Nicholas Chavez), and Trina Robinson (Tabyana Ali) has a healthy balance of tension. While Pohl told Soap Opera Digest that she is rooting for Trina and Spencer, her acting chops as Esme certainly isn't going to make it easy for them to be together.

Avery Pohl plays one of the most complex characters on "General Hospital," per Digital Journal. In a November 2021 interview with Soap Opera Digest, Pohl got candid about her experience booking "General Hospital," working with the cast, and how she brought Esme to life. The "My Daughter's Psycho Friend" star revealed that her first on-screen kiss with Nicholas Chavez was anything but romantic. "Watching yourself kiss someone on screen is just a very uncomfortable experience," Pohl readily admitted, "and that was my first on-screen kiss as well, so I was just terrified about how it would turn out!" 

As this is her first soap title, Pohl detailed how awkward certain parts of her performance made her feel to the soap opera outlet. She revealed that it took a few viewing sessions for her to feel comfortable playing back her scenes. "At first when I was watching myself, I was like, 'Oh, I'm not liking this' or, 'I'm not liking that' about my performance, but a few more episodes in, I feel like I just see Esme and I'm not really thinking about the performance anymore," she explained. Now that she's a pro, she considers this a good sign.

During an April 2022 appearance on Soap Opera Digest's podcast "Dishing With Digest," Avery Pohl described Esme's toxic but multifaceted relationship with her fictional boyfriend, Spencer, as having a "'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' vibe." A lot of work goes into not only making the relationships on soap operas feel realistic, but getting the audience to connect with the characters. 

Pohl doesn't take this lightly. Pohl and Nicholas Chavez were intentional about mapping out their characters, and also made time for fun too. In her November 2021 interview with the soap outlet, she shared that her friendship with Chavez outside of work has had a direct influence on what we see on screen. "Nick has been fantastic," she explained about working with him. "We hang out outside of work a little bit, too, and I think that helps aid our performances. We're constantly FaceTiming and running lines; we'll grab lunch when we can."

After Sydney Mikayla exited the role of Trina Robinson – aka one-third of the Spencer-Trina-Esme love triangle, many fans were left wondering how the character's storyline would continue on, per Soap Central. In her episode of "Dishing With Digest," Avery Pohl explained how she navigated her new dynamic with actress Tabyana Ali after she took up the baton. "It was definitely a shift," she reflected honestly on the podcast. "While it's the same character, it's a different person portraying that character so obviously there's gonna be some things that are different."

She added on that while this experience forces you to adapt and start fresh, that isn't necessarily a bad thing. "You kind of adapt, and you're going from having, in my case, nine months worth of history with somebody, to kind of starting over in a lot of ways." she added on. "And she was just kind of thrown to the wolves with storylines, page count and everything. ... So I was very impressed with all of the stuff she had to do."