General Hospital waited to write in the death of Leslie Charleson, beloved as Dr. Monica Quartermaine, for several months because they wanted to get it right, which they certainly did. Knowing the moment was coming didn’t make it any less powerful or devastating.
The performances by Jane Elliot (Tracy) and Steve Burton (Jason) were gut-wrenching and a reminder of the emotional storytelling that soap operas do best.
Monica had been kept alive off-screen for months until episodes this past week. Jason broke the news to his aunt Tracy that Monica was gone. All the human emotions and reactions that occur in a real-life moment like that played out on screen. We witnessed Tracy and Jason’s grief, denial, and shock.
Tracy and Jason aren’t known for getting along. Following Jason’s accident in late 1995 that altered his personality and memories, Tracy often spoke to her nephew like he was either hard of hearing or in a perpetual fog. So disrespectful. And so hilarious. So, Tracy.
But none of that mattered now.
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Tracy’s parents, Edward (David Lewis; John Ingle) and Lila (Anna Lee), her brother Alan (Stuart Damon), and Jason’s birth mother Susan Moore (Gail Ramsey) and brother AJ (Sean Kanan; Billy Warlock), and now, Monica are all gone. Along with Tracy’s son Ned (Wally Kurth), some grandchildren, and a few cousins, Tracy and Jason are all that is left of the Quartermaine family.
Elliot made the choice that any of Tracy’s arguably petty grievances against Jason no longer mattered. She had already thanked him for moving back into the mansion for Monica’s sake. Likewise, Burton dropped any guardedness he might have around Tracy. Now was not the time for them to do anything but support one another.
Elliot delivered a few lines of expository dialogue effectively and succinctly (as expository dialogue should be!). The kids were at school, other adults were at work, and Monica’s loyal aid Yuri (Cyrus Hobbi) was out running errands.
Jason commented that Yuri was going to take Monica’s passing badly. “Everyone is,” Tracy exclaimed, holding back her emotion. “I’m just so relieved it’s only us here.”
So were the viewers. Elliot and Burton had worked with Charleson the longest. Tracy swept into Port Charles like a hurricane in 1978 for Monica’s marriage to her brother, Alan, and became determined to prove Monica was unworthy of her sibling’s devotion. Burton joined the show in 1991 as Monica’s stepson; however, she was the only mother he’d ever known.
Tracy looked away in a mix of disdain and sadness when a first responder showed up with the gurney to take Monica’s body away. She knew that the responder’s presence made Monica’s passing all the more real.
Whether it’s in the immediate aftermath or years later, grief and acceptance of someone’s death comes in waves. It’s not a linear process.
Tracy handed the funeral home information over to the responder, saying that this would be the place that would collect the body. She couldn’t even finish getting the words out, prompting Jason to jump in and compassionately complete her thought.
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Already stepping into a role that Monica would have appreciated, Tracy pointed out to Jason that she should greet the sheriff (who ironically bore a passing resemblance to Rick Webber, Monica’s one time love, played by Chris Robinson) as Jason was “allergic to law enforcement.” Even in a dark moment like this, Elliot convincingly had Tracy muster up a dry quip as people are known to do in times of grief. “The last thing Monica would want is you carted off in handcuffs,” she said, adding, “the last thing I want.”
“I’ve never known this place without her in it,” Jason shared with Tracy when they were alone. “Of course, you haven’t. ‘It’s Monica’s house,’” Tracy pointed out.
As veteran GH fans are aware, “It’s Monica’s house” is one of the show’s longest running inside jokes and most repeated lines. A little backstory: Alan was so in love with Monica that he gifted her the mansion shortly after their marriage. Ownership came in quite handy after Alan wrongly tried to evict his bride from their home after he mistakenly believed she had cheated on him with Rick Webber. Owning the mansion gave Monica a power base when she needed it the most.
Charleson played Monica as someone who refused to be pushed around, and her pointing out to Alan that she owned the family home was an indicator that she wasn’t going anywhere.
Tracy recapped to Jason all the times Monica threatened to toss her from her home. The show treated viewers to a flashback of Charleson and Elliot squabbling as their characters. “On a good day, we could barely stand each other,” Tracy recalled. “And on a bad day, we practically came to blows. But through it all and maybe because of it, I don’t know, my respect for her just kept growing.”
Jason reflected on the difficult times he and Monica had after that accident that forever altered his personality, erased his childhood memories, and took him away from his family.
“I wish that I had memories of growing up with Monica as my mom,” Jason tearfully told his aunt.
Rather than take a swipe at either the late AJ, who caused Jason’s accident, or Sonny (Maurice Benard), the man who lured Jason away from the Quartermaines, Elliot leaned into Tracy’s compassionate side. (Yes, it is there.)
“You can ask me,” she assured Jason. “She told me practically everything.”
Tracy shared that she and Monica chatted almost every day. She revealed that Monica was hurt deeply when Alan had his affair with Susan. “When you were born, she wanted nothing to do with you,” Tracy said, revealing that as a small child, Jason lived on the grounds in the gate house with Susan and his stepdad, Scott Baldwin (Kin Shriner). (Actually, Jason initially lived a bit further away with Susan in her cottage, which was not on the Quartermaine property. You didn’t think Monica would let Alan’s mistress reside on her estate, did you?)
“But one night, you got sick, and Monica was called in to take care of you,” Tracy continued. “She walked into that gate house, and you were the child her husband had with another woman. Once she left and I quote, ‘You were my son,’ she said.”
“Thank you,” Jason replied.
“She loved you, very much,” Tracy added.
In a moment that may (or may not) have been unscripted, Elliot had Tracy reach out to wipe away Jason’s tears. “Little” gestures like that are why Elliot is so many people’s favorites. There’s a realness to each and all of her scenes.
Death is tragic, of course, but it can also bring people together. Elliot and Burton’s acting was not only Emmy-worthy as their characters began to grieve and heal, but their performances were also cathartic, hopefully for themselves and also for viewers who loved both Monica and Charleson.
General Hospital, Weekdays, ABC
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