Villains Redeemed Part One: ‘General Hospital’ Bad Guys and Girls Gone Good

We’re doing a series here at Soap Opera Spy to take a look at each of the four soaps and how many characters have been redeemed and turned from evil and scheming to loving and kind (or mostly so). After all, you need a little spice and plotting in every character lest they get too dull to retain our interest. Today we’ll take a look at a few of of General Hospital’s bad guys and girls that have turned their lives around and are trying so hard to be better!

Carly Corinthos
Carly is far from tame no matter how well the writers have rehabilitated her character and we love her for it. She blew into Port Charles in 1995 intent on revenge against her mom Bobbie Spencer for abandoning her. She started sleeping with Jason Quartermaine and wooing AJ Quartermaine at the same time. But that was just one part of her machinations. Carly had her sights set on Tony Jones, mom Bobbie’s husband and seduces him leading to their divorce. She then cheated on Tony with AJ in a drunken rage and got knocked up. She drugged AJ, then tried to pass the baby off as Jason’s before screwing AJ out of custody by taking up with mobster Sonny Corinthos.

Her actions drove Tony over the edge and ruined his life and to literally add injury to insult, she shot him. Carly has also blackmailed, cheated, committed arson and fraud, stabbed and drugged, committed perjury and placed hits on her enemies. If there’s a commandment Carly hasn’t broken, I can’t think of it. But today, Carly is trying to be a good mom, supporting Sonny with his mental health issues and helping him win custody of Avery and co-parenting his daughter with Ava Jerome. She’s passionate about protecting her children, is a respected business local business owner and a good friend to many. Carly is a classic case of bad girl made good but it’s taken her two decades to get there!

Ava Jerome
When Ava came to Port Charles, she played at being an art gallery owner and legitimate business woman, but she was actually in town with her half-brother Julian Jerome (going by the name Derek Wells). She ran the gallery and he ran Crimson and The Press. Secretly, they were plotting against the Corinthos mob family. Ava’s lies preceded her entree into Port Charles, though. She told Franco that he was Kiki Jerome’s dad, but Kiki was actually the result of adultery with Silas Clay when he was married to Nina Clay. She set up an illegal gambling ring to get Morgan Corinthos under her thumb and shot Olivia Falconeri, non-fatally, then killed Connie Falconeri and framed AJ for the crime.

She lured young Morgan into her bed, order a hit on AJ Quartermaine using Carlos Rivera then tried to strangle AJ in the hospital after Sonny shot him. She slept with Sonny in a crypt and got knocked up while she was also shagging his son Morgan (who, you’ll recall) she took out from under daughter Kiki. She ran over Jason Morgan with her car and then escaped from Pentonville after she was convicted of Connie’s murder. But motherhood a second time seems to have mellowed Ava and she’s tender and protective of Avery. She was also very kind to Morgan in the end. Ava’s also been loving to Silas as he treated her for her injuries and now for cancer. Once she’s cured though, will she turn back to bad?

Sonny Corinthos
There’s almost not enough space to recount Sonny’s crimes in and out of Port Charles, but we’ll hit the high notes. Of course he’s a mobster, but he also ran a strip joint, drugged a dancer, took out hits on dozens of people, actively killed Joe Scully, Ben Rogers, the Sandovals, Andrei Karpov and, of course, AJ Quartermaine. Then there’s all the people he shot that managed to live including Lorenzo Alcazar (twice), Johnny Zacchara and Jerry Jacks. But wait, he’s also shot a few family members and dear friends including Carly Corinthos, Robin Scorpio and Dante Falconeri.

Sonny has committed adultery too many times to count, took out hits, stole, sold drugs, threatened enemies, assaulted dozens of people and plotted violent revenge on half of Port Charles.

But once Sonny was diagnosed as bipolar and got treatment, he seemed to come down to Earth. He’s a case of bad guy gone good then bad then good again. Currently, he’s in a positive spot and is trying to win custody of baby Avery Jerome-Corinthos, seems to be lovey dovey with Carly, has handed off his duties as mob boss to Duke Lavery and is genuinely concerned with Michael Q’s recent breakdown even though he took custody of baby Avery from him. Sonny is trying hard to be a good dad to all his kids and a good partner to Carly. Wonder how long it will last before he goes dark again?

Franco
Franco is one of the most entertaining characters on General Hospital and more so now that the talented Roger Howarth has replaced James Franco in the role. In terms of bad boys, Franco started out as one of the worst. He first appeared as a serial killer/artist. Franco has killed many times, blown stuff up, threatened little children, engineered a wide array of kidnappings and poisoned some pickle relish. And if you’re not a fan of his paintings, you may consider his work a crime against decent art. And don’t think for a moment that being family gets you an out with Franco – he stabbed his mother and buried her alive, although she survived – Heather Webber is like a cockroach you can’t kill…

After he got the tumor out of his brain that was supposedly to blame for his actions, Franco seemed to be much better. He saved Michael Q from drowning and seemed sincere in his love for Carly. But then she just had to mess with his mental stability by cheating on him with Sonny and asking him to help them cover up AJ’s death. You can’t really blame Franco for exposing Carly and Sonny’s lies after their betrayal. The bottom line is that Franco wants love and love will always be what redeems him. Currently, it’s Nina Clay that’s making him happy and keeping him on the rails. Even though Franco is blackmailing Olivia, he’s doing it to provide for Nina. This uber-bad boy gone good seems to be doing well right now, even though he is involved in some minor plotting. But considering how very, very bad Franco can be, as of now, he’s practically a saint.

Next in our series will be the bad ladies and gentlemen of Days of Our Lives. Check back for part two coming soon! And be sure to share in the comments who some of your other favorite redeemed soap characters are!

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