Portrait of Laura Webber (1996)
Twist of Fate was a primetime episode of the ABC soap opera General Hospital. The stand-alone special aired on a Saturday (December 14, 1996) at 9 PM. This was the only time GH has aired outside of its regular weekday time slot. This episode was a direct continuation of the Friday, December 13, 1996 episode and revolved around Laura Webber's supposed death at the hands of Stefan Cassadine.
For the introduction of this storyline, please refer to this link: "Timoria"
Storyline[]
Luke Spencer presides over Laura Spencer's "funeral" (1996)
After being informed by Stefan that her mother, Lesley Webber, was still alive, Laura made her way into the tower where she was held captive. Shortly thereafter, as Stefan approached the building, the tower erupted in an explosion. Convinced that Laura had perished, her loved ones laid her to rest. At her gravesite, her spouse, Luke Spencer, vowed to take vengeance on the Cassadine family. After being dissuaded by his former brother-in-law Tony Jones, Luke relinquished his concealed firearm to police commissioner Mac Scorpio. Once he returned home and rearmed himself, Luke set off for Wyndemere Castle with the intent to eliminate Stefan once and for all.
Following the receipt of an unusual message from Miranda Jameson, Jasper Jacks' first spouse, Brenda Barrett, dispatched her husband, Jax, to locate her. Upon successfully finding Miranda in Hawaii, she revealed her genuine emotions to Jax, who clarified that his love for Brenda remained steadfast and was unlikely to alter in the near future. Merely weeks later, Brenda and Jax discovered that their marriage was not legally valid.
After the confrontation concerning his mother's death, Nikolas Cassadine sought comfort from Katherine Bell. They shared a kiss, following which Katherine began to guide him on how to properly grieve for a woman he had never met. Just as she was making a connection with him, Mac burst in and forcibly removed Nikolas from the location. Soon after, a worried Katherine rushed out to find him.
Shortly before attending Laura's funeral, Sonny Corinthos received an alarming call from GH. Fearing that Brenda had been injured, Sonny rushed to the room where she was supposedly being held. While he frantically searched for her, a thug injected him with a paralyzing agent. The attacker then abandoned Sonny in the penthouse, creating the false impression that he had been using drugs. Fortunately, Brenda found him just in time and quickly took him to the hospital.
At Wyndemere, Luke located Stefan and confronted him with a gun in the courtyard. Just before he was about to take Stefan's life, Luke's sister Bobbie Spencer and his son Lucky Spencer persuaded him to lower the weapon. In a fit of anger, he stormed off, and shortly thereafter, Stefan seized the gun and fired into the woods, unaware that his beloved Katherine was searching for him there. The bullet struck Katherine in the chest, causing her to collapse onto the forest floor.
In the concluding moments of the special, Luke and Lucky return to a van located in the woods, where Laura and Lesley are waiting. It was revealed, in an unusual 'twist of fate', that Luke and Laura had orchestrated the illusion of the two women being dead in order to separate her from Stefan. In the final scene, the catatonic Lesley finally uttered the name 'Laura' as the family departed into the night.
Trivia[]
- This primetime episode marked the comeback of Dr. Lesley Webber, after more than ten years, having been killed off in 1984.