Death does NOT become Sam: General Hospital Two Scoops for the week of October 28

General Hospital offered soap opera in its purest form this week, but the two featured stories that came to a pre-sweeps climax did not belong in the same episodes. Also, Sam should not be dead. Full stop.

Ecstacy and agony as Sam's life ends

We knew it was coming for months. As soon as the news broke that Kelly Monaco had been fired from General Hospital and the soap planned to kill the beloved character, there was outrage throughout the fandom, and rightfully so. A 21-year veteran actress was let go, and the character she played would cease to exist. What happened behind the scenes with Monaco is not yet public, and the actress has promised to make a full statement at some point. However, there was ZERO need to kill off Sam. And absolutely NO reason to do it in the way it was done.

If there was any doubt that Sam was indeed dead, GH put a stop to it with the October 31 episode. A pale Monaco lay still for multiple gut-wrenching emotional scenes as Alexis and Jason said their goodbyes. Nobody can say the doctors were wrong, and somebody swooped in and took Sam away. We saw her die, and we saw her dead. For an hour, we watched scene after scene with Sam's dead body lying there and cradled. And it came out of...nowhere.

Sam was happy. She was full of joy while looking forward to a future with Dante. The sense of foreboding was there when Sam showed Alexis her ring, but we never expected Sam to crash moments later — something we didn't even get to see. Why did we have to watch Alexis describe what happened to Jason? Her words were chilling as she told him that Sam was smiling one minute and then went white. But why didn't the audience get to witness that moment? How hard would have been to write that scene and film it?

A mother's worst nightmare comes to life

What can we even say about Alexis and Nancy Lee Grahn? There is a reason Grahn is considered one of the most talented actresses on soaps for decades and has won two Daytime Emmys for her work — one as Julia on Santa Barbara and another as GH's Alexis.

Grahn walked us through every emotion Alexis was feeling in granular detail. From sheer disbelief and reasoning to agonizing sadness and, finally, fury. Alexis is angry at God, angry at the hospital, and angry at the universe for taking the miracle it gave her twice. Once when Sam was born, and another time when Sam walked back into Alexis' life as an adult after being given up for adoption.

Seeing a mother cradle her dead child in her arms in gut-wrenching scene after scene brought a raw reality to these moments. It was soap opera done to perfection, as the right choices were mainly made in the immediate aftermath of Sam's death.

Saying goodbye to "Jasam"

While Dante was Sam's fiance and the man who had given her a loving and stable life, many fans (including this one) might argue that Jason was the true love of Sam's life. He was the one who lit the fire inside her, who satisfied her wild side, and who she was drawn to no matter where their lives took them. They didn't break up because they'd fallen out of love. They split because Sam understandably wanted to protect her young children from Jason's decidedly dangerous lifestyle.

Giving Jason those goodbye scenes was what Jasam fans needed. Jason is not a man of emotion, and he tried to hold his emotions back when Portia, Elizabeth, and Lucas delivered the news that Sam was dead. Seeing him try to remain in denial by not being able to look at Sam left a lump in our chests. Jason's usually stoic face began to crumble, and his eyes watered as he told Sam he always expected to outlive her. He never made life plans for himself, but he always made plans for Sam.

When Jason finally looked down and kissed Sam on the forehead, he had accepted the loss. After he told her goodbye and walked from the room in silent tears, we said goodbye to a legendary soap couple for the very last time.

We even got to see Jason's emotional growth as he found just the right words to say to Danny and Scout when he broke the news to them that their mother had died. Bravo, Steve Burton, for a job well done.

However, while the end of "Jasam" was done right, the end of "Sante" had a few hiccups.

Has anyone ever heard of a phone?

Why was Dante an afterthought? Why was Sam's current fiance not called immediately? We get that Jason and Alexis were shocked and grieving, but as a friend, Elizabeth could have called Dante and told him he was needed at the hospital immediately. Instead, Dante happily returned to GH with Rocco after telling his son that he and Sam were getting married, only to overhear the news.

GH did "Sante" dirty by ending things this way and not even giving the character of Dante the courtesy of learning his fiance had just died from a loved one. It felt like a slap in the face to loyal "Sante" fans who had already waited so long for Dante to propose.

Thankfully, GH gave Dante time alone with Sam, as well. As expected, he blamed himself for her death, but Sonny was right when he said that Sam would have donated part of her liver to anyone if she knew she could save a life.

Sam's other baby daddy

We can ask where Drew was, Sam's other ex-husband and the father of her daughter, Scout, but we knew where he was. Drew was ignoring the fact that his ex had just donated part of her liver and his daughter was depending Uncle Jason to take her trick-or-treating rather than him.

That's because Drew had more important things to do, like make sure his congressional campaign didn't blow up and come off the rails just days before the election. Why would Drew have his priorities straight when they weren't straight after he decided to go to jail for Carly's sake because Scout didn't need him anyway?

Drew had to smooth over his scandal. Why focus on taking care of your child when you need to keep the fact that you made out with your nephew's wife when you were also occasionally having sex with her mother quiet? Why care about your kid when you have to convince Willow to tell more lies?

Drew didn't even seem to have a proper reaction when Carly told him the news. He was shocked, but he certainly didn't look heartbroken.

Really bad timing, GH

And that is where the timing went all wrong — for more than one reason. The Willow/Drew/Nina tale is some seriously soapy stuff that deserved a better reveal, not overshadowed by the death of a beloved character fans have known for more than two decades.

That juicy soap scandal felt out of place juxtaposed with the gut-wrenching tale of Sam's tragic death. On top of that, who edited these scenes into one episode where it was morning on one end of town and evening on the other?

Michael and Sasha woke up in bed the morning after and he returned home to Willow when it was still morning. In the meantime, kids were trick-or-treating at night and Lucas called Sam's time of death as 5:48 PM. That's some trick, GH.

Michael is as ewww as Drew

The Drew and Willow kiss reveal at least sealed it for us that Michael is as smarmy as Cody claims Drew is. First, we have to hand it to Cody for being the only one to call Drew out for who he is. He announced that the congressional candidate was making out with his nephew's wife while also sleeping with her mother. If that's not a political career-ending scandal in the old world of politics, we're not sure what is. But in the new world, the bar patrons give the candidate a pat on the back and offer to buy him a beer.

Still, Cody kept at it, telling anyone who would listen — including Drew — that he was nothing but a hypocrite who thought he was above everyone else. It turns out that Michael is indeed the same.

Michael was understandably furious when he learned that his wife kissed his uncle, so he got drunk and slept with his ex-girlfriend, Sasha. The next morning (yes, morning), when Sasha let it slip that Willow had kissed Drew twice, he was further outraged. Did it occur to Michael that he did way more than just kiss Sasha?

When Michael returned home, he tried to get Willow to tell him about the second kiss, but she took Drew's bad advice and lied by omission. Then, he had sex with Willow on the couch. Who wants to bet that in about nine months, Michael will become a father again — TWICE? C'mom, you just know it's coming.

A little humor never hurt

With all the tragedy, heartbreak, and drunken sexcapades this past week, at least we still had Ned and Tracy to make us smile. When Elaine, the P.I., sent the video of Cody decking Drew at the Brown Dog and outing Drew as a smarmy politician, Tracy and Ned were absolutely delighted.

They even live up to the Quartermaine name by doing what Quartermaines do best — blackmailing one another. However, Drew, being Drew, refused to give them what they wanted and saved his own hide by revealing Willow's secret as she begged him not to. Quartermaines are going to Quartermaine. In the end, that can only be a good thing.

Until next week, fellow fans. We know we'll need the Kleenex again.