General Hospital Recap: Ric Faces Off With Alexis, Nina Threatens Drew and Stella is Arrested

There were both winners and losers in the dramatic August 27 episode of General Hospital, as Ric (Rick Hearst) realized the awful predicament he was in, Nina (Cynthia Watros) lost her cool with Drew (Cameron Mathison) in public, and poor Aunt Stella (Vernee Watson) was arrested for insurance fraud. Plus, Molly (Kristen Vaganos) confronted Kristina (Kate Mansi) about her plot to break up Ric and Ava (Maura West), Brook Lynn (Amanda Setton) made inroads with Gio (Giovanni Mazza), Marco (Adrian Anchodo) was getting antsy for revenge against Sonny (Maurice Benard) and more! Here’s how it all went down.

In Memoriam

Gio entered the church and encountered Marco. Both men were there to say a prayer for their late mothers. After introducing themselves to one another, Gio realized Marco’s connection to Natalia and offered his condolences. Gio identified himself as Sonny’s grandson and hoped Marco could believe that Sonny had nothing to do with Natalia’s death. Marco noted that the coroner’s report had shown no sign of foul play. Gio hoped that was giving Marco some peace of mind. Marco excused himself.

Brook Lynn entered with flowers, explaining to Gio that she was there to light a candle for Camila in honor of her birthday. She offered to leave, but Gio told her it was okay for her to stay, noting, “Today is not about me, it’s about my mom.” The two reminisced about Camila, with Brook Lynn noting how devoted she had been to Gio. Gio acknowledged that he was still struggling with the reality of not being Camila’s biological son. Brook Lynn assured him that she saw a lot of Camila in Gio, leading to a warm moment between the pair.  After their emotional discussion, Brook Lynn told Gio that she would get out of his hair. Gio watched her go, clearly having let go of some of his anger toward his birth mother.

Power Trip

Kristina arrived home and called out for Alexis. Molly emerged instead. Kristina’s eyes widened when Molly told her to drop the innocent act and declared, “I know what you did to my dad.” Kristina’s alarm lessened when she realized Molly was referring to her scheme with Cody. “You hired him to break up Ava and my dad,” Molly fumed. Kristina protested that she’d thought she was helping. Molly allowed that she believed Ava would hurt her dad one day. “You’re definitely right about that,” agreed Kristina.

Sonny dropped by with questions for Molly about ADA Turner’s jurisdiction and how it would affect not only him, but Laura and the vote on Measure C. Kristina tried to nip the conversation in the bud, and Molly observed, “It’s almost like you’re trying to get rid of us.” Molly noted to Sonny that with Robert Scorpio gone, Justine has more power — but Molly was confident that she wasn’t going to abuse that power where Sonny was concerned. Sonny added that Justine had also stood up to Drew. Kristina said she was glad that someone had, informing her dad that Drew had issued restraining orders against her, Molly and Alexis to keep them away from Scout.

Basement Bargain

Chained to a bed and with a ball gag stuffed into his mouth, Ric woke up in Alexis’s basement. A hazy image of Alexis came into focus and he frantically beseeched her to help him. “I’m sorry,” Alexis said, bending over Ric. “I can’t understand what you’re saying.” She removed the gag and Ric told her that he had no memory of how he’d wound up strapped to the bed. “My guess is that Ava hit me over the head,” he added, citing his massive headache. Ric vowed that once Alexis let him go, he would take care of Ava and then Alexis would never have to deal with either of them ever again.

Alexis replied that as appealing as that idea was, “Unfortunately, that’s just not gonna work for me.” With horror, Ric asked, “Are you in on this?!” Alexis reported that after coming home to find him unconscious on the floor, she, Ava and Kristina had decided that keeping Ric captive “was the right course of action.”

Ric was flabbergasted as Alexis explained how Ava had approached her with the same deal to end the blackmail that Ric had — but Ava asked first and was sweetening the deal by Ric throwing in the evidence she was holding against Kristina. “I’ve tried working with Ava and look where it got me!” bellowed Ric. Ric told Alexis that if she let him go, he wouldn’t press charges against her or Kristina. “I think I’ll take my chances with Ava,” she replied. Panicked, Ric asked if Alexis was going to kill him once she got what she wanted from Ava.

Alexis assured him they had no plans to off him. Instead, they were going to “keep him on ice” until the bonds he’d stashed the money in had matured, approximately 30 days. Then, they’d reclaim the money he had stolen from them, put it back into the Cassadine trust, Ava would give her the evidence, and then he’d be “free to go.” Ric groused, “And I won’t go to the police because we all have dirt on each other.” Crowed Alexis, “Aren’t you just the little bit proud of me?”

Ric hissed that there was one problem with her plan: Ava would try to kill him. Alexis said she wouldn’t let that happen, then moved to leave. Ric started yelling again, so Alexis decided to put the ball gag back in his mouth, smirking, “Can you believe Ava had one of these in her glove compartment?” Ric begged Alexis to reconsider what she was doing, and Alexis reminded him that he’d done something similar to Carly. “You’re better than me!” sputtered Ric. “Am I?” posed Alexis, reminding him of the crimes she’d committed because of his blackmail. “Now be a good boy and open up,” she said as she reinserted the gag. She headed up the stairs.

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Misery Loves Company

When Alexis entered the living room, Sonny, Molly and Kristina were still there. Molly left for work, telling Kristina they would continue their conversation later. Kristina excused herself, and Sonny told Alexis he’d heard that she was in a bind. “Regarding?” asked Alexis nervously. She was relieved when he clarified that he was referring to Drew. “Yeah,” confirmed Alexis. “Congressman Cutthroat strikes again.”

Alexis confessed that she’d lost it on Drew in public, with witnesses. Noting that Drew was “screwing people over left and right,” Sonny voiced his belief that eventually, someone was going to take him down. Given how many enemies he’d made, Sonny reasoned, Drew had put a target on his back.

Kristina sneaked downstairs to gloat to Ric about his predicament and needle him about how other than Molly, no one would miss him or suspect a thing when they noticed his absence. She reminded Ric of how he had defended Ava in court and wondered if, now that he was on the other end of his former client’s wrath, he still believed that Ava didn’t cause Kristina’s fall through the Metro Court hotel room window. She walked up the stairs, ignoring Ric’s (muffled) cries to be let go.

Three’s A Crowd

Isaiah checked in on Stella, hoping she’d not had any further trouble with the insurance investigators. Stella maintained that she had done nothing wrong and the investigators wouldn’t find anything. Soon, the investigators stormed into the hub to inform Stella that her employment had been suspended.

Elsewhere in the hospital, Portia was outraged when Curtis told her about Drew siccing the investigators on his auntie. Curtis stopped short of saying that Stella wouldn’t be in this mess if it wasn’t for Portia, but Portia knew what he was thinking. Isaiah interrupted to inform them that the investigators were back. They ran back to the hub and were horrified when the investigators announced that Stella was under arrest!

Curtis protested that the men were acting on orders from Drew, who was weaponizing their department to eke revenge on Curtis, and what they were doing was both corrupt and illegal. Jordan entered the fray, having been summoned by Curtis, and said she had contacted a former colleague at the DEA. The investigators agreed to give her a bit of time and stepped away. Curtis and Stella thanked Jordan for her help as Portia watched from afar, none too pleased. The investigators returned to report that they had gotten the green light to take Stella in.

Curtis called Alexis, interrupting her chat with Sonny, and asked her to head to the PCPD immediately. Curtis was emotional as the agents led Stella away in handcuffs. Jordan promised Curtis she would have her DEA contact talk to the fraud division about Drew’s role in Stella’s arrest. Portia had had enough and began to stalk off. Curtis asked where she was going, and Portia snapped that she was going back to work, as there was nothing she could do for Stella that he and his ex-wife weren’t doing already.

Flattery Will Get You Everywhere

At Wyndemere, Lucy groused about how Erica Kane’s cosmetics company, Enchantment, was running an ad making light of how Maxie had collapsed after using Deception’s night mask. Lucy feared that the bad publicity would cause Deception to go under.

Marco went to Wyndemere to see Sidwell, who told him to make it snappy, as Lucy had just stepped out to take a call. Marco told his dad that he had to use his leverage against Sonny now, “or it’ll become useless.” He urged Sidwell to tell Sonny that he knew Judge Heran had been bribed to rule in favor of Michael. Sidwell balked, but Marco wasn’t okay with Sonny getting to walk around freely, proclaiming him “directly or indirectly responsibly for my mother’s death.” Sidwell assured Marco that he would make Sonny pay, urging his son to be patient “a little bit longer.”

After Marco left, Lucy rejoined Sidwell. He broke the news that Deception’s stock had cratered and that the situation was “quite dire.” Lucy lamented that she was going to lose the company. “Maybe not,” said Sidwell. “Maybe there’s something I could do to help.” He offered to invest enough money in Deception to keep it afloat — in exchange for a larger stake in the business. Lucy was amenable to discussing it, but curious to know what was in it for Sidwell, as Deception was “a sinking ship.” Sidwell told her he’d have the honor of helping “an extraordinary woman” he cared about. Lucy smiled as he voiced his confidence in her ability to turn the company around.

Sober Curious

At G.H., Elizabeth welcomed Lucas back from escorting Maxie to Boston. He reiterated that Maxie had the best possible team of doctors trying to determine what had caused her coma. Ava approached and took Lucas aside, spinning a tale to him about her struggles with insomnia and asking if he could write her a prescription for sleeping pills. He agreed to give her a 30-day supply, no refills. When Lucas teased that he hoped him crashing at her place wasn’t getting in the way of her sleepovers with Ric, Ava relayed that she and Ric had decided to call it quits.

After they parted ways, Lucas shared the Ric/Ava breakup news with Liz, who said she would maintain her boundaries with her ex even if he came sniffing around. Lucas told Liz that he’d discovered he genuinely liked spending time with Ava, acknowledging that eventually, it might be nice to move out of her place and live with Marco. Later, Ava returned, sleeping pills in hand, and Lucas reminded her that she couldn’t mix the meds with alcohol. Noting that desperate times called for desperate measures, Ava said she would forego her martinis for now.

Liar, Liar

Willow went to the Port Charles Grill to meet Drew and explained that she understood that she needed allies in order to get her kids back — and the only ones she had were Elizabeth, Ric “and hopefully you.” Drew told Willow that she could always count on him and promised he would help her get her kids back.

Nina approached the table, demanding to know what Willow was doing with Drew and warning her that she could be jeopardizing her bid to visitation with Wiley and Amelia. Willow explained why she needed Drew’s help, and Nina gasped that nothing Drew had done to help Willow had ever panned out. “Do not get sucked back in by this charlatan,” she pleaded.

Nina urged Willow to walk out of the restaurant with her. “Why would I go anywhere with you?” hissed Willow. She told Nina that she blamed her for her custody loss, since according to Drew, Nina had blocked Drew from coming clean about their affair. Nina shot an infuriated look in Drew’s direction. Turning back to Willow, she adamantly denied Drew’s claim and denounced him as a “manipulative, sleazy son of a bitch.”

Willow said it didn’t matter — the fact still remained that Nina had kept her mouth shut and allowed Willow to be blindsided on her wedding day, leading to her public outburst. Willow insisted that Drew was the only person powerful enough to help her go up against Michael. She told Drew that she would come back to him if he got her kids back for her, then stormed out.

Problem Solved?

Nina glared at Drew with venom in her eyes. Marco showed up at the Grill while Nina was going off on Drew, calling him a liar. Drew countered that Nina was wrong about Willow losing her kids because of him. Marco observed from afar as Drew told Nina he had more power than she realized — to which Nina responded by snarling, “I swear, if you hurt my daughter, I’ll see you dead.” Drew pointed out that he could have her arrested for threatening a public official. Nina dared him to do so, reminding him, “The most dangerous person is the one who has nothing left to lose.”  With that, she stormed out.

Marco walked up to Drew and noted that it seemed like Drew had a big problem on his hands. “Lucky for you,” Marco added, “I have the solution.”

Will Marco’s impatience mean trouble for Sonny? Can Ric convince one of his captors to let him go? Will Willow live to regret putting her faith in Drew? Let us know what you think is going to happen next on GH in the comments below!