General Hospital performer of the week: Braedyn Bruner as Emma Scorpio-Drake

Braedyn Bruner had a hard job ahead of her when she made her General Hospital debut in December. She was taking over the role of a legacy character played by a young actress we watched grow up on screen. Brooklyn Rae Silzer brought Emma to life as a child and a teen, but Bruner has now taken the character into young adulthood with ease.

General Hospital's Braedyn Bruener moves hearts

Emma had an emotional talk with Anna | Image: ABC

Emma is a much spunkier character than she was before, but we are not complaining. Bruener gives the character an edge, but this week, we also saw her softer side as GH tapped into its history, and Bruner became Emma Scorpio-Drake.

She might not have played these moments all those years ago, but you never would have known it from Bruner's performance. We finally understood what drives the young woman and why she is so passionate about the Quartermaine crypt. Bruner moved us to tears as she moved Anna to tears, telling Emma's grandmother that she could never let the memory of the man who saved her life be desecrated by a crooked politician who couldn't even care about his own family.

Emma's connection to the Quartermaines has rarely been played, but Bruener embodied the character as she broke down with Anna and explained her kinship with Edward (John Ingle) and Alan (Stuart Damon). If it weren't for those men, Emma knew she wouldn't be alive. In a few short scenes in Anna's police commissioner office, Bruner brought us back in time to when Edward gave up his own life for Emma. She also reminded us of when Alan was there for her mother when Robin (Kimberly McCullough) first learned she was HIV positive.

Bruner and Finola Hughes seemed like true grandmother and granddaughter, and we wouldn't have it any other way.

Emma's drive and fears

Emma was nervous for her day in court on General Hospital | Image: ABC

Later in the week, when Emma was arraigned, Bruner showed us the character's fears and determination. She was spooked by something from her past in California, and her terror was written all over her face. However, Emma was determined to make sure nothing punctured through her tough facade, showing she is as strong-willed as her mother and grandmother.