‘General Hospital’ (GH) spoilers is saying that for any sufferers of this very real, very tragic condition I offer a trigger warning now. This discusses some of the darker aspects of body dysmorphia, if you are triggered by that then maybe this isn’t the article for you.
As we all know, Franco Baldwin (Roger Howarth) has all but disappeared. Shiloh Archer (Coby Ryan Mclaughlin) forced him into a memory procedure which implanted Drew Cain’s (Billy Miller) memories in his head and erased all of his own, or at the very least buried them deep. So for the last couple of months he has been walking around as this bizarre ‘Frankendrew’ hybrid. Someone with Franco’s body and face and Drew’s mannerisms, personality, and memory. Recently, after hearing about what Franco did for Drew as a kid and realized that Franco needed a chance to come back and be with the family he and Elizabeth Webber (Rebecca Herbst) made. But what if it were more than that? What if ‘Drew’ woke up every morning acutely aware of being in the wrong body?
‘General Hospital’ spoilers: Drew Cain suffering from body dysmorphia?
He briefly alluded to it after the procedure was done. I cannot recall the exact context but he did sneer, “Not my face.” as one of the first feelings he had upon waking up and seeing his reflection. It’s not like he remembered Franco as his brother either. In fact he didn’t know who that was or what his significance was up until recently. So its not like waking up with his ‘brother’s’ face was exactly comforting! Now one could argue that its not like he was bemoaning this fact and telling everyone that he was stuck in the wrong body and walking around a wreck, no he wouldn’t. Simply because he is a soldier and when you have military training there’s a certain level of cool that you have, at least on the exterior. There’s no way to tell what sort of wreck he is on the inside.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Mental Smoke Signals
Aside from the physical aspect there is also the mental aspect. If the real Drew Cain (Billy Miller) was getting flashes of his old life before his plane went down, then who’s to say that the real Franco Baldwin wasn’t in there somewhere sending up ‘smoke signals’ from his old life? It looks like the procedure, while it’s supposed to be permanent, may just be faulty in actuality and unsustainable for long periods of time. Maybe that’s why it breaks down and is ultimately unable to fight against the subject’s true nature which is their own inherent personality and memories. I’m not saying that Franco would have eventually come back on his own, obviously he would need some help, but that’s not to say that he wouldn’t try. Also there is the little tidbit recently that had him tell Elizabeth Webber. I’m sure we all remember this.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: “What is the last thing Franco said before he went away?” “That he’d be back.”
One could argue that he only knew that from the testimony given in court by Cameron Webber (William Lipton) but something about the way he said it to Liz made me think that maybe, somewhere in there, the real Franco still exists and was using Drew to reassure her.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: “Take it, its yours anyway.”
Finally, and here comes the trigger warning, some sufferers of body dysmorphia can have it so badly that they end up with suicidal ideations. Instead of being straight up suicidal, Drew Cain, on the other hand is just willing to let go and let Franco have his life back instead of sticking around and forcing a square peg into a round hole. There is also the fact that, and this is where the metaphysical may come in, Drew may actually be able to sense that his body, his earthly vessel, is gone. Since none of us know what that feels like it may manifest itself in ways that make the mind want to join the body, as it were. Since this kind of technology is not possible in our world, we may never know how this truly feels.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: But will it actually work?
But who’s to say that this reversal procedure is actually going to work? Everyone said that there is a chance that it could land Franco in a vegetative state if they were to do it again. And it just might, therefore rendering void any sacrifice that Drew, or Franco for that matter, made. But let’s hope for the sake of the Friz family that this memory procedure works and that Franco will be able to return to the Port Charles canvas soon without too many problems. I, personally, have missed Franco and Liz as a couple and think that they need a happy ending – at least for awhile. To see how this truly plays out we’ll have to stay tuned!
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