Life VS Tracy was a special stand-alone episode of General Hospital which aired on Friday, April 28, 2017. This episode marked the impending exit of Tracy Quartermaine, portrayed by Jane Elliot, who was also retiring from her role. Elliot would subsequently make guest appearances before rejoining the cast permanently in 2023.
Tracy Angelica Quartermaine imagines the experience of having to justify her existence, her decisions, and her actions. This reflection culminates in an hour dedicated entirely to Tracy, exploring her past, her identity, her accomplishments, and her future intentions.
Take a trip back in time as Tracy is put on trial for EVERYTHING she's done for the past 39 years.
Storyline[]
Tracy goes to the Quartermaine crypt with flowers for her mother's headstone. She talks about going on a vacation - that she's the last of them standing and all her mistakes have come from the goodness of her heart. Her nephew A.J. Quartermaine's plaque falls off the wall and knocks her out.
She is woken up by Scott Baldwin in a court room. Completely baffled, Diane Miller strolls in as the D.A. and explains that Tracy died due to the trauma to her head. The courtroom is where the newly departed are reviewed before they decide where to send them. Scott will present her good deeds and she'll present the bad. Tracy wants another lawyer, but Scott claims he got Lorenzo Alcazar sent back to earth as Leo Falconeri.
Bailiff Nathan West calls the court to order and Sonny Corinthos enters as the judge, a gun rather than gavel, placed on the pulpit. Tracy demands a mistrial, claiming she wasn't ready to die and the judge is biased. A TV screen shows one of their past fights: when Sonny confronted her over her schemes against Lois Cerullo. Sonny offers to recuse himself if she'd prefer Anthony Zacchara take his place, but she turns that down.
Scott defends his client for being "Not Cassadine or Heather Webber-level bad", and, compared to her father - Edward Quartermaine - pretty good. Diane shows clips of her fights with sister-in-law Monica Quartermaine, town heroine Laura Webber, and her own mother Lila Quartermaine.
The topic turns to her romantic conquests and all the criminals she's been involved with. Scott brings up Luke Spencer as proof she can be loving. Tracy admits it may have started as a trick but it grew into something else. They watch a clip of Luke admitting how much he loves her. Diane then shows how cruel their final break-up was.
Tracy and Scott start bickering about his work on her case. She gets up to declare that she's given birth to great children (Ned and Dillon Quartermaine). Footage of her fighting with her children and family over the years follow. Despite Tracy's protests, they show her fight with Edward as he accused her betraying the family for the sake of money. After he says he despises her, she says he's the only one that's ever mattered. When he starts to choke, and demand his medication, she threatens to let him die if he won't tear up his will.
The footage ends and a light shines on her. She knows she was contemptible but her family always took her back for her good deeds and she's sure she can do more. She's tried to atone for what she did to her father. All she ever wanted was to make him proud of her. Now she wonders what her life would have been like if she'd just been herself. She wakes up in the crypt.
