‘General Hospital’ Fans React To Ava Jerome-Centered Episode Led By Maura West
Maura West has been playing Ava Jerome on General Hospital for nearly five years now. Wednesday’s show put West in the spotlight by creating a standalone episode revolving around Jerome dubbed “All About Ava” and people were quick to form strong opinions regarding whether they loved or hated the episode.
From the looks of the commentary on social media, not everybody had the premise of Wednesday’s General Hospital show figured out. As Michael Fairman On-Air, On-Soaps detailed, ABC’s Nathan Varni described this Maura West episode as one that focused on what happened in Ava Jerome’s mind once she was under anesthesia.
During the course of the January 17 show, viewers saw Bryan Craig briefly reprise his role as Morgan Corinthos, and Megan Ward returned as Connie Falconeri. The use of Ward in the role threw off some General Hospital fans, as actress Kelly Sullivan is the one who played Connie at the time she interacted with Ava in Port Charles. Despite that, viewers seemed to enjoy the way the episode incorporated these characters who were key to Jerome’s transformation over the years.
West, known to many soap viewers for her time playing Carly Tenney Snyder on As the World Turns and Diane Jenkins on The Young and the Restless, garnered a lot of praise from many General Hospital viewers after Wednesday’s show. Some folks on Twitter declared that West should get a solo episode every year while others called Maura’s work phenomenal, fantastic, and a brilliant Emmy-worthy performance.
#GH Can we just give Maura West the Tony Geary-style solo episode every year? Her talent is unrivaled!
— Dan Pearce (@RealDanPearce) January 18, 2018
THIS. All day, THIS. I'm not going to name names, but there were some vets that she easily outclassed today–and it was obvious. Maura's the crown jewel of daytime. #GH
— Nigel Campbell (@nigel_campbell) January 18, 2018
However, not all General Hospital fans were won over by this unique offering. Some were outspoken in saying they thought it was one of the worst episodes ever, questioning why the Jerome character deserved the standalone treatment.
Today’s #GH was one of the worst episodes ever. Why are we focusing on Ava and all of the reasons she isn’t a viable character?
— soap fan (@SOAPSILOVE) January 18, 2018
I'm not sure about this episode, but Maura West is just such a good actress. #GH
— Serial Drama (@SerialDrama) January 18, 2018
Hey #GeneralHospital why did we need a whole show about Ava dreaming during her surgery? ? #ifellasleep
— Chandra (@Chan_DeHeartsU) January 18, 2018
West spent quite a bit of time on Twitter as “All About Ava” aired, answering questions from General Hospital viewers and sharing her personal insight. She praised GH director Denise “Didy” Van Cleave as well as the girl who played a teenaged Avery, Celesta DeAstis, and Maura noted that she was very happy about how Connie and Morgan were brought back.
Will this episode redeem the character of Ava after all of her bad deeds, and will General Hospital fans embrace the shift? Even many who didn’t care for the standalone “All About Ava” did seem to appreciate Maura West’s work and the actress clearly enjoyed the opportunity she was given with this one. As for where things head next for Ava Jerome, people will have to stay tuned for additional General Hospital spoilers to find out what is on the way.
