General Hospital Promo - Who is Alexis Davis?
Who is Alexis Davis?
Fighter, Idealist, Advocate was a special stand-alone episode of General Hospital which aired on Thursday, April 8, 2021 to honor Nancy Lee Grahn's (who portrays Alexis Davis) 25th anniversary with the series.
In this special episode, Alexis explores how her past has affected her psyche and spends time with her family before checking herself into Pentonville Penitentiary to serve out her sentence.
This episode featured Gable Swanlund as young Natasha Cassadine and Steve Richard Harris and Melanie Minichino in a rare flashback appearance as Alexis' parents, Mikkos Cassadine and Kristin Bergman.
Storyline[]
The episode begins with Alexis looking at her mother's watch while listening to one of her mother's songs. As the music is playing she remembers her mom and dad dancing in the living room as she watched from the stairs. Alexis confides to her eldest daughter, Sam, that she views her mother's watch as a representation of her own life - frozen at 10:10, the time of her mother's death. Alexis felt lost after her battles with alcoholism and being disbarred. Being a lawyer was how she self-identified and now that she was unable to practice law, she felt like she didn't know who she was anymore.
Alexis heads to Dr. Kevin Collins office for a therapy session. In the morning, she would have to turn herself into Pentonville Penitentiary to serve her sentence, so she wanted to meet with Kevin beforehand to help prepare herself. Alexis was facing three years in prison for accidentally stabbing Dante Falconeri. Facing an identity crisis, Kevin asks her how she spends her time now that she is no longer practicing law. Alexis flashes back to good times spent with friends (Hamilton Finn, cousin Valentin Cassadine, Jasper Jacks and Ned Quartermaine) but something still feels missing. Purpose.
Alexis tells Kevin that when she was practicing law, she was a fighter, an idealist, and an advocate. She doesn't think she will survive prison if she doesn't find a purpose while she is in there and she wants Kevin to help her find one. Kevin starts to ask about her childhood and she begins to see her younger self huddled in the corner of Kevin's office. Alexis deflects from talking about her childhood and begins to talk about her poor choices in men and how she thinks it stems from issues she has with her own father. Mikkos' abuse of her mother, brought her back to the incident of Julian Jerome holding a knife to her throat. She had trusted in Julian's love and felt betrayed.
Kevin reminds her that not all of the men in her life are bad and she names Ned as one of the good ones. But then she quickly beats herself up for ruining things with Ned by sleeping with him and jeopardizing his marriage to Olivia Falconeri. Alexis then flashes back to earlier in the day when she had a confrontation with Olivia. Olivia tells her that she misses the old Alexis and wishes she had her back.
Alexis confides in Kevin that she feels responsible for Neil Byrne's death. Kevin tells her that she is not responsible for what happened to Neil or Julian. When Kevin once again tries to get her to open up about her childhood, she gets defensive, not wanting to talk about Mikkos or be defined by any man. Alexis was inadvertently triggered by Kevin's questioning because she flashed back to a long buried memory of her childhood.
It was Christmas Eve and Mikkos stopped by the house she shared with her mother to bring them gifts. Mikkos gave Kristin the infamous watch that night. As Mikkos was getting ready to leave, Kristin wanted him to stay and threatened to tell his wife, Helena Cassadine, all about Natasha and herself, in order to get him to stay. Mikkos called Kristin a "greedy little bitch," and slapped her causing the watch to shatter. As Mikkos and Kristin are fighting, a young Natasha is watching from the stairwell, taking it all in. Young Natasha felt helpless as she watched Mikkos abuse Kristina physically and verbally and there was nothing she could do to intervene. Young Natasha thought they would never see Mikkos again after that, but she was wrong.
Mikkos returned on New Year's Eve, and Kristin welcomed him back into their lives after he apologized and begged for forgiveness, promising never to lose his temper that way again. Mikkos had the watch fixed and placed it back onto Kristin's wrist. But inevitably Mikkos did lose his temper again and Kristin continued to get hurt. Alexis dejectedly recounts how her parent's toxic cycle of gifts, "love" and brutality continued until Kristin died. Alexis feels enormous guilt for not being able to protect or advise Kristin back then, but Kevin reminds her that she was just a child.
After finally sharing her story, Alexis feels strong enough to face the vision of her younger self that has been huddled up in the corner of Kevin's office crying this entire time. She goes to Young Natasha and tells her that nothing that happened was her fault. Mikkos was damaged and it wasn't their responsibility to fix him or their burden to bear. She tells her younger self that she deserves to be happy. Finally realizing the purpose she had all along, Alexis reintroduces herself to Young Natasha, "I'm Alexis Davis, a fighter, an advocate, and an idealist and I can handle this for you if you let me." She tells her younger self to let go and she will take it from here. At her words, the vision of the young Natasha disappears. In that moment Alexis felt acceptance and was able to forgive herself and move forward with her life.
As Alexis returns to her seat, she has another memory from earlier in the day. Her daughters planned a surprise for her. Since she will be in prison when her youngest daughter, Molly graduates from law school, they planned a faux graduation ceremony so they could all celebrate together. Alexis got to see Molly in her cap and gown and they took family pictures together. As her memory fades and she returns to the session, Kevin points out how she has repeatedly defined herself as a fighter, an idealist, and an advocate. He then states that she has three daughters who share those same qualities: fighter (Sam), idealist (Kristina), and advocate (Molly). Her law degree didn't put those qualities into her daughters, she did, and all she needs to be is Alexis Davis because that is good enough.
As the episode ends, it is the next day. Alexis surrenders herself to Pentonville and is taken to her cell. She meets her cellmate who is studying law books to prepare for her parole hearing. Alexis introduces herself and says she can help. Back at the Davis House, her mother's watch finally begins to tick again.
"I'm Alexis Davis, and I'm a Fighter, and an Idealist, and an Advocate."
Cast[]
This episode stars characters in flashbacks from Alexis' childhood:
- Mikkos Cassadine - Steve Richard Harris
- Kristin Bergman - Melanie Minichino
- Young Natasha Cassadine - Gable Swanlund
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- In a recent episode of the OnWriting podcast hosted by the Writers Guild of America East, Charlotte Gibson disclosed that Scott Sickles was responsible for writing this particular episode. [1]