‘General Hospital’ (GH) spoilers finds that, when Dev Cerci (Ashton Arbab) first came on the scene, I loved the idea of his character. Just a kid from the wrong side of Ankara, a kid who ultimately risked life and limb for a mob boss trying to find his son in Turkey, who found a way to hop aboard a plane by himself to the US and come to the only American he knew and ask for help – that takes guts and I totally admire him for it. But, I find his character arc to be a bit… unrealistic.
Ever since he’s gotten to Port Charles, I find that he’s lost a lot of that initial spunk that he had. Now, granted, he’s simply laying low and trying not to get deported right now and also trying his best not to anger Sonny Corinthos (Maurice Bernard). That could be part of it but overall his character has morphed into something rather lackluster and I find that troubling.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Trauma, what trauma?
For one thing, Dev is from a developing country. You can’t tell me that growing up in that sort of environment didn’t have a lasting impact on him. You can argue the resilience of children all you like, but Dev was 15 when he set foot in the U.S., his world view was pretty much formed by then. If he had been 10 or 11 then I could see him assimilating like he has into American culture but he was a 15 year old boy from what could be argued is the middle east. Not from a highly westernized country, some things are going to carry over and so far they really haven’t.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Was this guy born or did he hatch?
Dev is also, from what we know, an orphan. We don’t know anything about his previous family life, if he had one at all. In Turkey, family life is very important to teenagers, they have big, extended families, so Dev not having one at all seems kind of odd and out of character.
Dev never even mentions his family, good or bad, he didn’t just appear from a pod, someone had to raise him. Even kids who have arguably ‘raised themselves’ had someone in their early, formative years. No one is a sea turtle, you don’t just hatch and swim to the sea in one day.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: When is the truth going to come out, eh, Dev?
I’m surprised that some of it hasn’t come out yet. I’m surprised that Dev has not volunteered any information to Sonny, I’m amazed that he’s not suffering from some sort of PTSD and that he doesn’t have nightmares from his time back in Turkey.
After all, he’s a kid from the streets supposedly where is his trauma? When he saw Joss upset over Oscar dying, did it not bring back memories of people he had lost? Turkey isn’t Iraq so I wouldn’t say it was war-torn but the area he was from, it seemed, certainly seemed to be very rough, but you couldn’t tell it from the way Dev acts… he assimilates too easily. Way too easily.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Could Dev be playing Sonny?
In an article ripped directly from the headlines, Dev could be a bit older than his proclaimed 15 years and he could be playing Sonny for all he’s worth. I could see a grown man (or at least one in his early 20’s) doing a big mob boss a favor in a foreign country, then using the info he collected from Sonny’s stolen wallet to later track him down and get his favor’s worth out of the guy. I could see that.
But so far, Dev seems to be exactly what he says on the tin, a 15-16 year old boy. So that theory is kind of out the window.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Being a teenager doesn’t exactly make him exempt
Since it seems that at least his age is on the up and up, but that he’s assimilated into American culture far too well, it could be that the only thing he’s telling the truth about is his age. Maybe, just maybe, Dev isn’t a poor kid from the streets of Ankara, but a runaway kid of some international (doesn’t exactly have to be Turkish, but it helps) diplomat and was bored while in Ankara and decided to create his own adventure by helping out a mob boss.
Dev got himself into trouble with Raj and his gang of nasties, but he fled the country (which would explain his ability to get on a plane all by himself) and disappeared from their reach and is under the protection of Sonny now so all’s good.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: The dots are not really connecting
This would also explain his initial meeting with Sonny Corinthos and his insistence that he not turn him in to the authorities. Yes, no one wants to go to jail but also, if he was the kid of some distant VIP he would want it even less because that would draw attention to the fact that he had run away from whatever his VIP parents wanted him doing and was shirking responsibility.
I’m not saying the kid is royalty or anything that far-fetched, but there’s definitely something in this kid’s past that just doesn’t add up.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: My secret, secret identity
Another thing, Dev is not homesick. Not one bit. If he misses Turkey then you sure couldn’t tell it. I find this completely unrealistic that he wouldn’t miss at the very least, some things about Turkey. This makes me think that he’s traveled before, and only adds to the narrative that maybe Dev is just a spoiled rich kid who got bored and decided to get into some international trouble.
The only thing that doesn’t really make sense in this version of the narrative is that Dev has no passport and is in the country illegally but perhaps that was all part of the plan. Maybe he wanted to escape whatever previous identity he had.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: No homesickness at all, really?
A kid that had grown up in Turkey all his life would experience some homesickness, even if his situation wasn’t the best – I say this because Asa Soltran of the Shahs of Sunset left Iran with her family as political refugees when she was a very young girl. She grew up in Europe and is now living in L.A. in the U.S. but she in the past she has frequently talked about missing her homeland and how wonderful it would be go go back someday and how she can’t and it has left her ‘emotionally homeless’, so don’t tell me that Dev isn’t experiencing a little bit of that.
‘General Hospital’ Spoilers: Give me some realism!
I wish they would explore that a little bit more within the narrative. It doesn’t have to overshadow other story lines but it would make his angle as a character a lot more interesting, and since they have both arguably been through so much as children, it could give he and Josslyn Jacks (Eden McCoy) a chance to bond as well. For that matter he could even bond with Trina Robinson (Sidney Mikayla), they have excellent chemistry together. Dev’s not into her right now, but minds can always be changed later.
Besides, Joss seems a little bit too wrapped up in her friendship with Cameron Webber (William LIpton) right now which seems like a total high school thing so I’m not too mad at it. Looks like to see what Dev’s storyline is actually going to be we’ll just have to stay tuned!!!
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