General Hospital (GH) spoilers have been dealing a lot with Franco Baldwin’s (Roger Howarth) memory transfer. He currently thinks he’s Drew Cain (Billy Miller), which is the talk of Port Charles lately. Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) in particular is desperate to get her husband back, but this plot brings up some interesting questions. Here’s what you need to know.
General Hospital spoilers: Questions
Now that Franco has been implanted with Drew’s memories, there’s an interesting road to explore. Yes, his DNA is that of Franco Baldwin, but is a person really their body, or their consciousness? Franco has all the memories of Drew, all the feelings, and all the likes/dislikes/training that Drew had.
Our minds are powerful things, and we’ve only scientifically scratched the surface of everything they’re capable of. Our mental outlook has been shown to be a huge help in the body’s healing as well, and Franco is giving no indication of wanting to get back his old life, so there’s little chance of him spontaneously deciding to be Franco again. That leads to a dilemma.
General Hospital spoilers: Liz’s plan
Now, let’s talk a minute about the idea Elizabeth recently had. Since Franco now believes he is Drew, she wants to get him declared incompetent and committed to a home until they’re able to get Andre Maddox (Anthony Montgomery) there to try reversing the procedure.
First, this is going to be an interesting case as there would be no precedent for it. Plus, Franco is not currently fitting any of the official criteria for commitment, as far as we can remember. Yes, they could use his attack on Harrison Chase (Josh Swickard) against him, but there hasn’t been another incident since then.
General Hospital spoilers: The moral question
Given all that, her plan comes with a big moral implication. For all intents and purposes, the real Drew (pre the memory loss) is now back. Monica Quartermaine (Leslie Charlseon) is anxious to speak to him and learn more about the stepson she never got to know as a child. “Franco” now has all the answers that she’s been waiting for for years, and reversing the procedure takes that away.
There’s also the fact that this was a very unusual procedure, even for a memory wipe in soap world. They weren’t even sure that “Franco” would wake up at all after, or what state he would be in if he did. This means taking a massive risk with his physical well-being. It also could mean the permanent loss of the real Drew in hopes of getting the real Franco back. It’s a cool story that we’re looking forward to following over the coming days and weeks.
