General Hospital’s Carlo Rota Leaving? Jenz Sidwell Has Gone Too Far
General Hospital Seems Poised to Write Out a Once-Frontburner Family
Any actor except for maybe Maurice Benard has gotta figure that their days on a soap are probably numbered when their character corners a protagonist and threatens to murder them in cold blood. So, after Wednesday’s episode (recapped here), we’re a bit worried about Carlo Rota’s future on General Hospital.
On one hand, the scene stealer has turned villainous Jenz into a card-carrying crowd-pleaser. He’s not just as wicked as the day is long, he’s — and this is his saving grace as far as we’re concerned — hella funny. What’s more, he has chemistry galore with Maura West (Ava).
But on the other hand, General Hospital introduced Sidwell’s ex-wife Natalia as a homophobic harpy viewers immediately loathed, then cut its losses and killed her off. Her daughter Blaze was shown the door in the middle of a storyline with Kristina. And most recently, Jenz’s son Marco was condemned to follow Natalia to the grave. Even Sidwell’s butler has been sent packing!
At one point, it looked like Jenz’s family was being positioned as the Cassadines 2.0. But boy, has that point passed. Now they’re more like the Eckerts!
Is there any way that we can keep the delightful Rota around? There is some precedent for a reprieve. Valentin tried to rub out Nikolas and Jack — and poisoned Carly in the latter attempt — and now he’s sleeping with Carly. Jack ordered hit after hit on Sonny (and got Dex and Curtis shot in the process), and now he’s a theoretical good guy. Ava and Jason both have blood on their hands. And Sonny’s kill list is so long, nobody even bothers trying to prosecute him anymore.
That being the case, yeah, General Hospital might be able to jump through some hoops to keep Sidwell on the canvas. But it could just as easily do what it appears to be doing — getting rid of all traces of Jenz to make room for something new, perhaps a resurgence of the Baldwins with a recast playing a key member of the family.
